Wulf hung up the phone, his thoughts whirling. He looked at Cassandra who had gone pale. "What did he say?"
Part of him wanted to lie to her, but he couldn't. Their relationship was beyond that. He'd never kept anything from her. He wasn't about to start now. She had a right to know what was going on.
"Stryker wants to exchange your father for Erik. If we refuse, your father dies."
What he didn't tell her was that her father would probably die anyway. Given what he knew about Stryker. It was pretty much a given.
But maybe Urian would be able to keep Jefferson Peters alive since he had a vested interest in the man's health.
Cassandra covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes were large, terror filled. "What do we do? I can't let him kill my father and I damn sure can't give him my baby."
Wulf stood up and kept his voice calm so as to not alarm her any more. She had her own health and Erik's to worry over. He would take care of the rest. "There's only one thing I know to do. I'm going to go kill Stryker."
She looked less than convinced. "We've tried that. Remember? It didn't exactly work. I seem to recall he and his men cut a swathe through you, the Were-Hunters, and Corbin."
"I know, but the thing about us Vikings, we know how to take advantage of surprise attacks and disorient our opponents. He won't be expecting me to attack."
"Sure he will. He's not stupid and he knows who he's dealing with."
"Then what do you want me to do?" he asked in frustration. "You want me to give him Erik and say bon appetit?"
"No!"
"Then offer me another solution."
Cassandra tried desperately to think of something. But he was right. There was no other way.
Maybe if they could reach Urian, but he'd been gone for several days now and no one, not even Phoebe, had seen hide nor hair of him.
"When and where are you supposed to meet him?" she asked.
"Tonight at the Inferno."
"We'll think of something by then."
Wulf hoped so. The alternative was completely unacceptable to him.
"I'll go and help."
Both Wulf and Kat looked at Chris as if he'd lost his mind.
"What are we supposed to do with you, Chris?" Wulf asked. "Lob you at them?"
Chris bristled, offended. "I'm not a baby, Wulf. I happen to know how to fight. Hell, I've been sparring against you for years."
"Yeah, but I never really hit you."
Chris looked even more offended.
Kat patted him on the arm. "Don't worry, Chris. The day that Sony PlayStation attacks the world and threatens to destroy it, we'll give you a call."
Chris made a disgusted sound. "Why do I bother?"
Wulf took a deep breath as he fastened his sword on. "Your job is to protect Cassandra and Erik. I need you here, boy."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm ever useless."
Wulf grabbed Chris by the back of his neck and pulled him close. "You are never useless to me. I don't ever want to hear that out of your mouth again. You hear me?"
"Okay." Chris relented as he tried to shrug off Wulf's fierce grip. "I guess my baby-making abilities aren't completely defunct with the new heir, huh?"
Wulf ruffled his hair, then turned to Kat. "You ready?"
"I suppose. You do realize they'll just run from me?"
"Good. Keep them stirred up. If they're busy worrying about hurting you, then they can't concentrate on hacking me into pieces."
"Good point."
As he started for the door, Cassandra stopped him. She pulled him tight against her and held him close. "Come back to me, Wulf."
"I fully intend to. God and Odin willing."
She kissed him, then let him go.
Wulf took one last look at his wife and the baby who was sleeping on the floor completely oblivious to what was happening tonight. Oblivious that if Stryker had his way, Erik would die and the world would end.
How he wished he could be so ignorant.
But he couldn't. He had a job to do and too much to lose if he failed.
In the back of his mind was the one repeating thought... How had Stryker found out about Cassandra's father?
Could Urian have betrayed them? Would he?
Part of him wanted to believe it was a coincidence. The other part of him couldn't help wondering if Urian had changed his mind about helping Stryker after all. The man was his father...
He and Kat left the apartment and met Phoebe at the main entrance. She held out a necklace to him and placed it around his neck. "This will allow the door to Elysia to open when you return. I couldn't get in touch with Urian and that concerns me. I only pray they haven't learned of his helping us."
"He's all right, Phoebe," Kat soothed. "Believe me, he's a great actor. I had no idea he wasn't a complete asshole. I'm sure his father doesn't know either."
Phoebe looked peeved by her words.
"It was a joke, Phoebe," Kat said. "Lighten up."
Phoebe shook her head. "How can you be so nonchalant when you know what's at stake?"
"Unlike the rest of you, I know I'll live through the night, one way or the other. Unless the earth is destroyed or they hack me to pieces, I'm in no danger. My only fear is for all of you."
"Then make sure you stand close to me," Wulf said, only half-jokingly. "I need some Teflon-coated armor."
Kat shoved him toward the exit. "Yeah, yeah. Big Viking defender hiding behind me. I'll believe that one when I see it."
Wulf led the way out of the city, up to the surface. The truck they had arrived in had been moved to a nearby cave that housed several vehicles they kept just in case one of their people went Daimon and needed a link to the human world.
It was sick, but Wulf was grateful just this once for their "care" of the Daimons.
The spring thaw had started and the ground wasn't as frozen as it had been before.
Shanus had given him several sets of keys so that he could choose the automobile most likely to get them there quickly. Wulf chose the navy blue Mountaineer.
Kat got in first. He looked back the way they had come while his thoughts returned to his family.
"It'll be okay, Wulf."
"Yeah," he whispered. He knew it would be. He was going to make damn sure of it.
Wulf got in and drove them back toward the city. His first stop would be his house. Or what was left of it. He wanted to be fully armed for this conflict.
They drove for well over an hour before they reached his estate. Wulf pulled into his driveway and hesitated. There was no sign of battle here anymore. His garage, his windows were all intact.
Even the front gate was standing.
"Did Stryker repair it?" he asked Kat.
She burst out laughing. "Not his style. Believe me. He never repairs the damage he does. I have no idea what happened here. Maybe your Squires' Council?"
"No. They didn't even know about this."
Wulf keyed the lock for his gate, then pulled toward the house slowly, expecting the worst.
As he neared the front door, he stopped suddenly.
There in the shadows beside his house, he saw movement.
The mist from the lake was thick, swirling. He cut the lights so that his vision wouldn't be impaired by them and reached for the retractable sword under his seat.
There were three very tall men dressed in black walking toward them slowly, arrogantly, as if they had all the time in the world. They were united in power and strength, and their eagerness to fight bled from every pore of them.
All of them were blond.
"Stay here," he warned Kat as he got out, ready for battle.
The fog swirled around the three men as they came closer.
Probably no more than six feet three, one of them was dressed in trousers, sweater, and wool overcoat. One side of the coat was pulled back to show an ancient scabbard and sword of Greek design. The one in the middle was two inches taller. He, too, wore wool trousers and a sweater along with a long black leather coat.
The third one had short hair, a shade darker than the other two. Dressed all in biker leather, he had two braids that fell down from his left temple.
And in that instant, Wulf remembered him.
"Talon?"
The biker broke into a wide grin. "From the way you're holding that sword, I was wondering if you were going to recall me or not, Viking."
Wulf laughed as his old friend drew near. They hadn't seen each other in over a century. He gladly shook the Celt's hand.
Wulf turned to the man in the middle and remembered him, too, from the brief time he had spent in New Orleans over one hundred years ago during Mardi Gras.
"Kyrian?" he asked. The ancient Greek general had changed quite a bit since the last time he had met him.
Back then, Kyrian's hair had been cropped short and he had worn a beard. Now it was shoulder length and his face was clean-shaven.
"Nice seeing you again," Kyrian said, shaking his hand. "And this is my friend Julian of Macedon."
Wulf knew the man only by reputation. Julian had been the one who had taught Kyrian everything he knew about fighting and battle. "Glad to meet you. Now what the hell are the three of you doing here?"
"They're your backup."
He turned to see Acheron Parthenopaeus joining their group. He didn't know what stunned him most, their presence or the sight of the infant Ash had strapped into a baby harness, facing his chest.
Wulf was aghast. "Kyrian? Is that your baby?"
"Hell, no," Kyrian said. "No way I would bring Marissa into this. Amanda would geld me first and then kill me if I even considered it." He inclined his head to Acheron. "That's Ash's baby."
Wulf cocked a brow at that. "Lucy," he said in a mock Ricky Ricardo accent, "you got some 'splaining to do."
Ash grunted. "Stryker isn't stupid. Your idea of going in with a plastic baby, while admirable, would never work. Stryker would smell the plastic in an instant." He turned the Snugli sack around to face Wulf so that he could see the tiny, dark-haired infant it contained. "So I give you a real baby."
"What if it gets hurt?"
The baby sneezed.
Wulf jumped as fire shot out of its nostrils and almost singed his leg.
"Excuse me," the baby said in a singsongy voice. "I almost made Dark-Hunter barbecue, which would be really sad 'cause I ain't got no barbecue sauce with me." The baby leaned its head back to look up at Ash. "You know fried Dark-Hunter isn't good plain. What you need-"
"Sim," Ash said in a warning tone under his breath, cutting the baby off.
The baby looked up at him. "Oh, I forgot, akri. Sorry. Goo, ga, goo."
Wulf rubbed his forehead. "What is that?"
"He told you, Simi's his baby... demon."
All five of them turned at the deep, sinister voice that was laced with a heavy Greek accent. Another man stepped out of the shadows. He was almost as tall as Acheron with black hair and vibrant blue eyes.
Ash arched a brow. "You came after all, Z. Glad you made the party."
Zarek snorted. "What the hell? I didn't have anything better to do. Figured I might as well come kick ass and take names. Not that I really give a damn about their names. I'm just in it for the bloodlust."
"So you're Zarek," Wulf said, eyeing the notorious ex-Dark-Hunter who had once been exiled to Fairbanks, Alaska.
His nasty attitude not only bled from every pore, but was apparent from the lip he kept perpetually curled. Billy Idol and Elvis had nothing on this man.
"Yeah," Zarek said, sneering even more. "And I'm freezing, so can we rush this little get-together so I can kill some assholes and get back to the beach where I belong?"
"If you hate it here so much," Talon asked, "why did you agree to come?"
In a subtle gesture of flipping Talon off, Zarek scratched his eyebrow with his middle finger, which was covered with a long, sharp metallic claw. "Astrid wants me to make friends. I don't know why. Some weird woman thing. She's trying to make me more sociable."
Ash let out a rare laugh at that.
Zarek passed an equally amused, knowing look at Acheron. "I don't want to hear it from you, O Great Ash. You're the one who got me into this in the first place." Then Zarek did the most surprising thing of all; he bent down and chucked the baby on the chin. "How you doing, little Simi?"
The baby jumped happily up and down in the harness. "Fine. You got any more frozen beans for me? I miss being in Alaska with you. It was fun."
"No time for food, Sim," Ash answered.
The baby blew him a raspberry. "Can I eat the Daimons then?"
"If you can catch them," Ash promised, making Wulf wonder what the man knew about the Daimons that he wasn't sharing.
"What's that mean?" Zarek asked for him. "You being vague again?"
Ash looked at him archly. "Always."
Zarek let out a sound of disgust. "Personally, I think we should get together and beat the hell out of you until you come clean."
Kyrian scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You know-"
"Don't even go there," Acheron said irritably. He turned to Wulf. "Go get your weapons. You have an appointment to keep."
Wulf paused by Ash's side. "Thanks for coming."
Ash inclined his head to him and stepped away as he cuddled the baby demon to his chest.
Wulf went back to the car to get Kat, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Kat?" he called. "Kat?"
"What's wrong?" Talon asked as he and the others joined Wulf by the car.
"Did you see the woman I was with?"
They shook their heads.
"What woman?" Talon asked.
Wulf frowned. "She's six feet four and blond. She couldn't have just van-" He paused as he rethought that statement. "Never mind, she's one of the few people who could have just gone poof."
"Is she your wife?" Kyrian asked.
"No, she's one of Artemis's handmaidens who's been helping us."
Ash scowled at that. "Artemis doesn't have a kori taller than her. Believe me. She doesn't let any woman look down on her. Literally."
Wulf looked at him as a feeling of dread went through him. "I hope you're wrong. Because if you're not, then Kat was working with Stryker all this time and is most likely off to tell him about our surprise party."
Ash cocked his head slightly as if listening for something. "I don't even sense her. It's as if she doesn't exist."
"So what do you think?" Kyrian asked.
Ash picked his baby up as she started kicking him in the groin and moved her to his hip. The baby played with his braid, then started chewing it.
Wulf furrowed his brow. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that baby had fangs.
"I don't know what to think," Ash said, pulling his hair away from the baby, "Kat bears the description of an Apollite or Daimon."
"But she walks in daylight," Wulf added.
Zarek cursed. "Don't tell me there's another Day-Slayer loose."
"No," Acheron said firmly. "I know for a fact Artemis hasn't created one. She wouldn't dare. At least not at the moment."
"What's a Day-Slayer?" Talon asked.
"You don't ever want to know," Julian answered.
"Yeah," Zarek concurred. "What he said, times a hundred."
"All right, then," Wulf said, heading for his house. "Let me get my things and we'll be on our way."
As he walked off, he saw Talon move to stand beside Ash. "This is the part where you normally say if everyone does what they're supposed to, everything will work out as it's meant to. Right?"
Acheron's face was impassive. "Normally, yes."
"But?"
"We're dealing with something greater than the Fates tonight. All I can honestly say is it's going to be one hell of a fight."
Wulf laughed at that as he left hearing range. That was okay by him. Fighting was the one thing he and his people excelled at.
They arrived at the Inferno just before midnight. Oddly enough, the bar was completely empty of patrons.
Dante met them at the door, dressed in black leather. He didn't have his vampire teeth in, and he looked extremely angry.
"Ash," he said, greeting the Atlantean. "Been a long time since you've darkened my door."
"Dante." Ash shook his hand.
Dante looked down at the baby with a knitted brow. "Simi?"
The baby smiled.
Dante let out a low whistle and stepped back. "Damn, Ash, I wish you would warn me when you're planning on bringing your demon here. Do I need to warn the guys the feeding machine has come visiting?"
"No," Ash said, swinging the baby lightly. "She's only here to munch Daimons."
"Where is everyone?" Wulf asked.
Dante glanced to the wall to his right. "I caught wind of what was going down tonight so we closed the place."
Wulf followed his line of vision and saw the pelt of a panther mounted there. He recognized the hide by the streak of red in it. "Your brother?"
Fury darkening his eyes, Dante shrugged. "The bastard was working with the Daimons. Feeding them information about us and you."
"Man," Talon breathed. "That's cold to kill your own blood."
Dante turned on him with a feral sneer that more than betrayed the fact that Dante wasn't human. "My brother betrayed me and our people. If I were as cold as I'd like to be, his hide would be on the floor so everyone could walk on him. Unfortunately, my other brothers were a little disturbed by that so we compromised with the wall."
"Understood," Ash said. "Where's the rest of the pack?"
"In the back. We're staying out of it. We don't like to kill our own."
Zarek snorted at that. "Unless it's your brother."
Dante approached Zarek and the two of them had a mutual sneer-off. "Law of the jungle. The betrayee gets to eat the betrayer."
Zarek gave him a droll stare. "Law of my jungle. Kill them all and let Hades sort them out."
Dante actually laughed at that. "I like this one, Ash. He understands us."
"Gee, Z," Ash said jokingly. "I think you may have found a new friend after all. That should make Astrid happy."
Zarek flipped him off.
Ash ignored it. "All right, game faces, guys."
Dante went to guard the front door while Ash removed his baby from the carrier and handed her to Wulf who was a bit hesitant to touch the little girl demon.
She eyed him speculatively, then smiled. "The Simi won't bite you if you don't drop her."
"I will try not to drop you then."
She flashed her fangs at him, then settled back in his arms, the perfect image of a relaxed infant.
"Should we hide?" Julian asked. "Take them by surprise?"
"We can't," Ash said. "Stryker isn't a normal Daimon."
"More like Desiderius?" Kyrian asked.
"Worse. In fact, my best advice to all of you"-Ash directed a warning glare at Zarek-"is to let me handle Stryker. I'm the only one of us he can't kill."
"And why is that, Acheron?" Zarek asked. "Oh, wait, I know this. Fairbanks will hit one hundred and ten Celsius in January before you answer that."
Ash folded his arms over his chest. "Then why ask it?"
"Just to piss you off." Zarek moved across the floor. "When are they supposed to get here, anyway?"
The air above the dance floor shimmered and hissed.
Zarek's face broke into a wide grin. "Oh, goodie. Let the bloodbath commence."
Kyrian pulled his sword out and extended the blade while Talon pulled his circular srad into his hand. Julian unsheathed his Greek sword.
Zarek and Ash didn't make a move for their weapons.
Neither did Wulf. His goal was to protect Simi, Erik, and Cassandra.
The bolt-hole flashed a second before Stryker came through it. A full legion of Daimons came out with him, including Urian.
Urian's face was completely stoic as he met Wulf's gaze. It was hard to believe this was the man who had married Wulf to Cassandra. There was nothing on his face or in his eyes that indicated Urian knew him. Kat was right, the man was one hell of an actor.
"How nice," Stryker said with an evil laugh. "You brought dinner for my men. If only everyone could be so considerate."
Several of the Daimons laughed.
So did Zarek. "You know, I almost like this guy, Acheron. Pity we have to kill him."
Stryker slid a sideways glare to Zarek before his gaze went to Acheron. The two of them stared at each other without a word or emotion.
But Wulf saw the momentary confusion on Urian's face as he noticed Acheron.
"Father?"
"It's all right, Urian. I know all about the Atlantean. Don't I, Acheron?"
"No. You just think you do, Strykerius. I, on the other hand, know your every flaw, right down to the one that enables you to believe in the Destroyer while she toys with you."
"You lie."
"Perhaps. But perhaps not."
Oh, yeah, no one could play the game of vagueness better than Acheron. He was a master at saying nothing and making people doubt the very air they breathed.
Finally, Stryker turned to Wulf. His gaze dropped to the baby Wulf held. He cocked his head and smiled.
"How sweet. You went to so much trouble, didn't you? All of you did. I should feel flattered."
A bad feeling went through Wulf. Something wasn't right about this.
Did the Daimon know Simi wasn't his?
Stryker moved to stand next to Urian. He draped an arm over his son's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
Urian scowled at the action and grew rigid.
"Children are the very thing we live for, aren't they?" Stryker asked. "They bring us joy. Sometimes they bring us pain."
Urian frowned even more as his father played with the leather laces holding Urian's blond braid.
"Of course, you'll never understand the pain I mean, Wulf. Your son won't live long enough to betray you."
Before anyone could move, Stryker slashed Urian's throat with his hand that wasn't human anymore. It was the shape of a dragon's claw.
He shoved Urian away from him. Urian fell to the floor gasping, holding his hands against his neck to stanch the blood flow while his father faced the Dark-Hunters.
"You didn't really think I was stupid enough to fall for this trick, did you?" His gaze bored into Wulf and when he spoke, it wasn't Stryker's voice he heard... it was the voice of Cassandra's father. "I knew you would never bring me the baby. I just needed to get the guardians away from Elysia for a while."
Wulf cursed at his words as he moved to attack.
Stryker vanished into a black cloud of smoke while the Daimons attacked.
"Ak'ritah tah!" Acheron shouted.
The portal opened.
One of the Daimons laughed. "We don't have to go through-" Before he could finish the sentence, the Daimon was violently sucked through the opening.
The others quickly followed.
Ash ran across the floor to where Urian lay in a pool of blood. "Sh," Ash breathed, covering Urian's hands with his own.
Urian's eyes were filled with tears as he stared up at Acheron.
"Breathe easy and shallow," Acheron said, his tone soothing and deep.
Wulf and the others watched in stunned silence as Ash healed the Daimon.
"Why?" Urian asked.
"I'll explain later." Acheron stood up and lifted the hem of his shirt until his lean, well-defined stomach was exposed. "Simi, return to me."
The baby shot out of Wulf's hands immediately. She turned from an infant into a tiny dragon, then laid herself over Acheron's skin until she became a tattoo over his left ribs.
"I always wondered how your tattoo moved," Kyrian said.
Ash didn't speak. Instead, he raised his hands.
One second they were in the Inferno, the next, they were in the middle of Elysia.
More than hell had broken loose since Wulf and Kat had left earlier. Unending screams rent the air. There were scattered bodies of Apollite men, women, and children everywhere. Apparently, they didn't disintegrate like Daimons did unless they died on their birthdays.
Dread and fear tore through Wulf.
"Phoebe!" Urian cried, running for his apartment.
Wulf didn't bother to call out. No one could hear above the screams. So he ran as fast as he could toward his wife and son.
Several Daimons tried to stop him. His gaze glazed by fury, Wulf cut through them.
No one would get between him and his family.
No one.
He got to the apartment to see the door had been kicked open. Shanus's dead body was lying just inside the living room.
Wulf choked on fear until he heard fighting from his bedroom. Best of all, he heard his son's angry squall.
Running through the room, he reached the bedroom and paused. Chris stood in the farthest corner, holding Erik against his chest. Chris's two Apollite friends, Kyra and Ariella, stood in front of him as if they were a barrier to protect him and Erik.
Stryker and three more Daimons were attacking Kat and Cassandra, who were fighting them off with admirable flair and skill.
"You can't hold your shield forever, Katra," Stryker growled.
Kat looked at Wulf and smiled. "I don't have to hold it forever. I only had to hold it long enough for the calvary to arrive."
Stryker hesitated, then looked over his shoulder at the same time Wulf attacked.
Wulf killed one Daimon, then went for Stryker. Stryker turned around and blasted Wulf with a god-bolt that knocked him back into the wall.
Hissing in pain, Wulf saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
It was Ash and Zarek.
Kat immediately vanished while Stryker cursed.
Wulf and Zarek went after the last two Daimons while Ash and Stryker faced each other.
"Go home, Stryker," Ash said. "The war is over."
"It'll never be over. Not so long as my father"-he spat the word out-"lives."
Ash shook his head. "And I thought my family was dysfunctional... Let it go. You've already lost. My God, you just killed your own son, and over what?"
Stryker roared with anger, then attacked Ash.
Wulf grabbed his son from Chris at the same time Zarek pulled Cassandra behind him. Wulf wanted to get them out and to safety, but they couldn't reach the door while Ash and Stryker fought in front of it.
Stryker shot a god-bolt at Ash who took it without flinching. Instead, he gave the Daimon a blow that knocked him up into the air and slammed him against the wall.
Wulf whistled low. They all knew Ash was powerful, but he'd never seen the Atlantean do something like that.
Stryker attacked again. But for some reason, Ash didn't kill him. The two men slugged it out as if they were humans and not...
Whatever the hell the two of them were.
His face bloody, Stryker shot another blast at Ash.
He deflected it. Ash raised his hand, and as he did so, Stryker was lifted from the floor.
Stryker shot a bolt at him that caused Ash to stagger back and release him.
The Daimon hit the ground running. He wrapped his arms around Ash and rammed him into the wall.
But before he could strike Acheron again, a yellow-fleshed demon appeared out of nowhere. Her eyes flashing, she wrapped her arms around Stryker and then vanished into nothingness.
Acheron snarled at that.
"While you're at it, Apollymi," Ash shouted. "You better keep him there."
"What the hell are you?" Wulf asked Ash as he turned to face them.
"Don't ask questions you don't want answered," Zarek said. "Believe me. You're so not ready to know the truth."
"Is Stryker gone?" Cassandra asked.
Ash nodded.
Cassandra hugged Wulf, then took Erik from his hands and held him against her shoulder to quiet him. "I know, baby," she cooed. "But the scary man is all gone."
"What grabbed the Daimon?" Kyra asked. "Where did they go?"
Ash didn't answer. "You're safe now, guys. At least for a little while."
"Will he be back?" Cassandra asked.
Ash gave an odd half-laugh. "I don't know. He's one of the few creatures beyond my powers. But like he said, it's not over. He might be back in a few months or a few centuries. Time passes differently where he lives."
Kyrian, Talon, and Julian came into the room.
"The Daimons have all vanished," Talon said. "We killed some, but the rest..."
"It's all right," Ash said. "Thanks for the help."
They nodded, then walked out of the bedroom, into the chaos of the living room.
"Man, it's going to take days to clean this up," Chris said, looking around in disbelief.
Then, before their eyes, the destruction was cleared. All that was left behind were the bodies.
Zarek snorted. "You better stop while you're ahead, Acheron."
"I'm not ahead, Z. I can't fix what was really damaged here tonight." Ash's gaze went to Shanus's body.
Wulf shook his head as he picked up Shanus to carry him to the town's center.
There were Apollites everywhere, crying and screaming over their dead.
"They didn't deserve this," Wulf said to Acheron.
"Who does?" Ash asked.
A woman came up to Wulf. She had the bearing of royalty and it didn't take much to ascertain who she was.
"Shanus?" she said, her eyes filling with tears.
Wulf laid the body down for her. "Are you his wife?"
She nodded as her tears glistened in her eyes. She cradled his head in her lap and wept quietly.
Cassandra moved forward. "I'm so sorry."
The woman looked up, her eyes filled with hatred. "Get out. All of you! You're no longer welcome here. We helped you and you destroyed us!"
Zarek cleared his throat. "That might not be a bad piece of advice," he said to Wulf, looking around at the others who were directing killing glares toward them.
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "You guys help Wulf and his family get out of here. I'm going to see about someone."
Wulf knew he meant Urian. "Do you want us to wait for you?"
"No. There'll be a couple of SUVs waiting for you topside. Head home and I'll catch up later."
"SUVs?" Kyrian asked.
"Again, I repeat, don't ask questions you don't want answered," Zarek said. "Just accept the fact that Acheron is a freak of nature and let it go."
Ash cast him a droll glare. "I may be a freak, but at least I don't throw lightning bolts at my brother."
Zarek laughed evilly at that. "At least I haven't struck him with one... yet."
Ash watched as Zarek led the group out of the city.
He stood in the center, surveying the damage around him. He started to clear it out just as he'd done with Wulf's house and the apartment, then stopped. The Apollites would need something to focus on other than their pain.
Rebuilding the city would take their minds off their grief. At least for a little while.
Deep in his heart, he wept along with them.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...
He forced himself to walk down the corridor without yielding to the need inside to fix everything.
By the time he'd reached Urian's apartment, Ash was disgusted by the bloodshed Stryker had wrought in the name of Apollymi.
There was no sense in this, but then she was the Goddess of Destruction. And it was why he had to make sure she was never released from her prison.
Ash found Urian on his knees in the center of the living room. The man held a small gold locket in his hands as he wept silently.
"Urian?" Ash said in a low, steady tone.
"Go away!" he snarled. "Just leave me alone."
"You can't stay here," Ash said. "The Apollites will turn on you."
"Like I care." He looked up and the empathetic pain Ash felt from Urian made him take a step back. It had been a long time since Ash had come into direct contact with so much hopeless grief. "Why didn't you let me die too? Why did you save me?"
Ash took a deep breath as he explained it to Urian. "Because if I hadn't, you would have sold your soul to Artemis over this and killed your father."
"You think I'm not going to kill him over this?" He turned on Ash with a growl. "There's nothing left of her. Nothing! I don't even have anything to bury. I..." His words broke off as he sobbed.
"I know," Ash said, placing his hand on Urian's shoulder.
"You don't know!"
Ash gripped his chin and lifted it until their gazes locked. "Yes, Urian, I do know."
Urian struggled to breathe as he saw images flickering through Ash's swirling silver eyes. There was so much pain in them, so much agony and wisdom.
It was hard to maintain eye contact with him.
"I don't want to live without my Phoebe," Urian said, his voice breaking on the words.
"I know. For that reason, I'm giving you a choice. I can't lock on to your father to monitor him. I need you to do that. Because sooner or later, he'll be back after Apollo's lineage."
"Why would I protect them? Phoebe died because of them!"
"Phoebe lived because of them, Urian. Remember? You and your father were responsible for killing her entire family. Did you ever tell Phoebe it was you? You? Who killed her grandmother? Or her cousins?"
Urian looked away shamefaced. "No. I would never have hurt her."
"Yet you did. Every time you, your father, or one of your Spathis killed one of her family, she felt the pain you feel now. Her mother's and sisters' deaths tore her apart. Isn't that why you saved Cassandra to begin with?"
"Yes."
Ash stepped away from him while Urian wiped his tears away.
"You said I had a choice?"
"The other is that I will erase your memories of everything. You'll be free of all of this. All your pain. The past, the present. You can live as if none of this had ever happened to you."
"Will you kill me if I ask it?"
"Do you really want me to?"
Urian stared at the floor. To most people, his thoughts would be unknown. But Ash knew them. He heard them as clearly as he heard his own.
"I'm no longer a Daimon, am I?" Urian asked after a brief pause.
"No. Nor are you an Apollite, exactly."
"Then what am I?"
Ash took a deep breath as he spoke the truth. "You are unique in this world."
Urian didn't like that any more than Ash liked being unique. But some things could never be changed.
"How much longer will I live?" Urian asked.
"You're immortal, barring death."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Most of life doesn't."
He felt Urian's frustration with him, but at least it was lessening some of the man's grief. "Can I walk in daylight?"
"If you want, I can make it so. If you choose amnesia, I will make you fully human."
"You can do that?"
Ash nodded.
Urian laughed bitterly as he raked a cold look over Ash's body. "You know, Acheron, I'm not stupid, nor am I as blind as Stryker. Does he know of the demon you carry on your body?"
"No, and Simi isn't a demon, she's part of me."
Urian's gaze bored into his. "Poor Stryker, he's so screwed and he doesn't even know it." The intensity of Urian's gaze burned. "I know who and what you are, Acheron Parthenopaeus."
"Then you know if you ever pass your knowledge along I'll make sure you regret it. Eternally."
He nodded. "But I don't understand why you hide."
"I'm not hiding," Ash said simply. "The knowledge you carry can't help anyone. It can only destroy and harm."
Urian thought about that for a minute. "I'm through being a destroyer."
"Then what are you?"
Urian let his thoughts wander through the events of this night. He thought about the aching pain inside him that screamed over the loss of his wife. It was so tempting to let Acheron erase it all, but with that he would lose all the good memories he carried too.
Though he and Phoebe had only had a few years together, she had loved him in ways no one ever had. Touched a heart he had thought was long dead.
No, it hurt to live without her, but he didn't want to lose all connection with her.
He fastened her locket around his neck and rose slowly to his feet. "I'm your man. But I warn you now. If I'm ever given a chance to kill Stryker, I will take it. Consequences be damned."