Tabitha headed for the Daimons without thought until Valerius pulled her to a stop. "What are you doing?" she asked him indignantly.
"It's a trap."
She frowned up at him. "What?"
There was a strange look on his face as he tightened his grip on her arm. "Can't you feel it? Even without powers I sense this one."
"No and if we don't go out there, they're going to kill those people." She tried to twist her arm out of his grasp, but he held tight.
"Tabitha, listen to me. This isn't right. Daimons are never that bold and they had to know I was in here."
He was right. It was too obvious. In this crowd Valerius stood out like sunshine in darkness. "What do you suggest we do, then? Just let the innocent die?"
"No. You stay here and I'll go."
"Bull-"
"Tabitha," he snapped at her, his black eyes burning into her. "I'm immortal. You're not. Unless one of them is wielding an ax, they can't hurt me much. Whatever they do to me, I will survive. You might not."
She wanted to argue with him, but she knew he was right. Not to mention she could feel inside that he was sincere. This wasn't some macho move to prove himself superior to her.
He was concerned for her safety, and if he was worried about her, he wouldn't be able to fight clear headedly.
"Okay," she said. "You go and I'll try not to follow."
A tic worked in his jaw. "For my sake, please do more than try. Succeed." He released her and before she could blink, he was out of sight.
Valerius hurried through the crowd, after the Daimons. He paused at the entrance long enough to ask Ty to keep Tabitha in the bar for her own safety. He wasn't sure if the man would help him with that or not, but if Ty could slow her down some, maybe it would give him enough time to kill the Daimons before she got there and endangered herself.
Leaving the bar, he hesitated on the street. The loud music still rang in his ears. But even so, he could sense the Daimons...
At the end of the block, he turned down Royal and headed in the direction that he was certain they had vanished. The Daimons were moving fast, drawing him into the darkness.
Unless he was mistaken, which was unlikely, there was a large group of them.
He slowed a bit as he approached St. Louis Street and turned onto it. He hadn't gone far before he came upon a gate slightly ajar.
They were inside. Quiet and still.
Waiting.
Had they killed the humans already?
Pulling out a dagger and holding it so that the blade was in line with his forearm while the hilt rested lethally in his palm, he pushed the gate wider, taking care not to make a sound as he slipped inside the pitch-black courtyard.
It was a moonless night, and unlike most of New Orleans, there were no lights back here. He moved around the side of the building, knowing exactly what to expect.
The Daimons were lying in wait for him.
He could hear someone clucking his tongue.
"It's been a long time since I faced a truly intelligent Dark-Hunter. This one already knows we're here."
Valerius came around the shrubbery to find a group of nine Daimons waiting in the courtyard. The women he had thought were human weren't.
They were fanged.
Damn.
Valerius drew himself up to his entire, imperious height and arched a brow at the group. "Well, when one puts out a cosmic calling card, I assume one wants it answered."
A slow smile spread over the Daimon's lips who'd spoken as he moved slowly through the group so that he could stand before Valerius. An inch shorter, the Daimon had a lean build and, like all of his kind, was perfect in his male form.
"The call wasn't for you." The Daimon sighed wearily. Obviously disgusted, he looked at the group behind him. "I thought I told you to draw the woman out, not the Dark-Hunter."
"We tried, Desiderius," one of the women said. "She stayed behind."
Valerius saw red at the name of the Daimon who had scarred Tabitha's face. He wanted to tear the Daimon to shreds, but knew better than to betray himself or Tabitha by acting as if she were special to him.
Had he maintained his composure the night his brothers had killed him, they would have left Agrippina alone. He wasn't about to sacrifice Tabitha needlessly.
Desiderius frowned. "Tabitha Devereaux stayed behind?"
"The Dark-Hunter told her to," another Daimon supplied. "I heard them."
"Interesting." Desiderius turned to face him. "I find it hard to imagine Tabitha would listen to anyone. You must be special indeed."
"She didn't think of you as a threat," Valerius said nonchalantly. "You weren't worth her time." He yawned at them. "No more than you're worth mine."
The Daimon moved to blast him.
Valerius caught his arm, whirled, and elbowed him in the throat. Desiderius staggered back, cursing.
"I know all about Greeks and their tricks," he snarled as he seized Desiderius's neck in his fist and flipped the Daimon onto the street. "Most of all, I know to kill them."
Before he could move his dagger and kill Desiderius, the others swarmed him. One grabbed him from behind while one of the females moved in to stab him with a long, vicious-looking dagger.
Valerius kicked her back, then twisted to confront the ones behind him. One of the Daimons slugged him across the face. He ground his teeth as pain exploded along his cheek to his nose, and he tasted blood.
But then, pain was nothing new to him. As a mortal, he'd been well acquainted with beatings and pain.
Valerius returned the blow with one of his own that sent the Daimon to his knees.
Out of nowhere, a god-bolt struck him hard in the center of his chest. It knocked him off his feet and sent him slamming into the brick wall behind him. Valerius couldn't breathe. He tried to stay standing, but the sheer agony of it overrode his desire and he crumpled to the ground.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Desiderius said. "It was a gift inherited from my father." Desiderius bent down and seized Valerius's right hand and studied his Roman seal ring. "Now there's something I find interesting, too. A Roman in New Orleans. Kyrian of Thrace must truly love you."
Valerius glared at him as he forced himself to roll.
He'd barely moved before Desiderius hit him with another shocking bolt.
"What are we going to do with him?" one of the women asked.
Desiderius laughed once again, then seized him.
But it was Valerius who laughed hardest as he kicked the Daimon back and shrugged off his pain.
He caught Desiderius and slung him against the wall where he rebounded with a thud. "The question isn't what are you going to do with me. It's what I'm going to do to you."
Tabitha couldn't stand waiting any longer. But she wasn't completely stupid, either. Pulling out her cell phone, she called Acheron, who answered on the first ring.
"Hey, Tabby," he said with a laugh, "Valerius's cell is 204-555-6239."
"I really hate it when you do that, Ash."
"You know what you're going to hate even more?"
"I can't imagine."
"Turn around."
She did and found him standing on the other side of the bar. At six feet eight and wearing a pair of tall Goth boots that added a good three inches to his height, he was impossible to miss.
In spite of what he said, she felt a wave of relief at seeing him there. Hanging up her phone, she crossed the room to meet him. "What are you doing here?"
"I knew you were going to head off after Valerius and I'm here to go with you."
"Then you think he's in trouble, too."
"I know he is. Let's go."
Tabitha didn't ask him to elaborate. She knew him better than that. Acheron Parthenopaeus seldom ever answered anything. He lived life on his own terms and was eerily secretive about everything.
Ash led the way out of the club and into the street. Tabitha didn't know where they were headed, but he seemed to know instinctively.
"I have a really bad feeling," she said to Ash as they practically ran down the street.
"So do I," he said, ducking into an open gate. Tabitha followed him inside, then skidded to a halt as she caught sight of the most incredible thing she'd ever seen in her life.
Valerius fighting. He held a sword in each hand as he fought off four Daimons who lunged and parried with consummate skill of their own. It was fluid, violent, and morbidly beautiful.
Spinning about, Valerius caught one of the blond Daimons with an uppercut that tore through his chest, piercing the dark spot over their hearts where the human souls gathered. It caused the Daimon to explode into a golden powder.
Ash joined the fight by catching two of the Daimons with a staff. He drove them away from Valerius, allowing the Roman to concentrate on the other Daimon.
Tabitha took a step forward only to feel something cold and evil brush up against her.
"Predictable," came that sinister, haunting voice again.
A flash of something sizzled past her, heading toward Acheron.
One moment Ash was piercing a Daimon with his staff and in the next, he was on his knees as Valerius killed his own Daimon.
The second Daimon Ash had been fighting moved to stab Ash, only to have his blow intercepted by Valerius, who kicked the Daimon back, then killed him.
Tabitha ran to Ash, who was on the ground, hissing as he held his arm as if it were broken.
"Simi," he panted. "Human form. Now!"
The large dragon tattoo on Ash's forearm peeled itself off his skin into a dark red shadow that quickly transformed into the demon Tabitha knew so well.
"Akri?" Simi asked as she caught Ash's head. "Akri, what hurts?"
Tabitha knelt down beside them and tried to see Ash's arm. It was literally turning into stone, only it wasn't growing hard. His skin was turning a grayish-white color and it was spreading up his arm, toward his shoulder.
His face battered from his fight, Valerius fell to his knees on the other side of Ash. "What is that?"
Ash writhed as if he were on fire. "Simi... Akra... Thea Kalosis. Biazomai, biazomai."
Tabitha saw the terrified look on Simi's face before the demon vanished.
"Ash?" she asked, panicking. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," he gasped. He grabbed Valerius's shirt. "Get Tabitha home. Now!"
"We can't leave you," they said in unison.
"Go!" Ash snapped an instant before the grayish stone-like skin crawled over more of his body.
They didn't.
Ash fought and screamed as the grayish color spread all over his body. Tabitha laid him out flat on the ground. Ash panted as if trying to fight off whatever had him.
It was a losing battle.
His swirling silver eyes bulged before they too turned gray and he was as still as a corpse. Ash wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving. It was as if something held him completely paralyzed.
"What do we do?" she asked Valerius.
"You die."
Tabitha spun at the malevolent voice behind her to face the ghost again. It was surrounded by more Daimons.
"Good Lord, who spread the Daimon fertilizer around? They're cropping up like a bad horror flick," Tabitha said.
Valerius rose to his feet.
Before she could move, Valerius engaged them.
Tabitha rushed to join the fight.
"Don't kill the woman!" the ghost snarled to the Daimons. "I need her alive."
Another blond Daimon laughed. "Yeah, but feel free to rough her up all you want."
Tabitha turned to find yet another Daimon behind her. She struck out with her arm only to have him dodge her blow, then straighten up to deliver a staggering strike to her ribs.
The pain drove her straight to her knees.
Valerius cursed and started for her. Two Daimons cut him off.
With nothing more than sheer strength of will, Tabitha regained her feet.
The Daimon looked impressed.
Tabitha went to hit him, only to have him move away, lightning fast. This time when he tried to strike her, he was slammed into the building beside her.
"Leave her alone," Valerius snarled. He put himself between her and the rest of the Daimons.
Tabitha pulled her sleeve back and shot a crossbow bolt into the nearest Daimon. He disintegrated.
Suddenly, something ricocheted through the Daimons, killing two instantly before it vanished.
Tabitha looked past the Daimon horde to see a cavalry. Julian, Talon, and Kyrian were coming in, weapons drawn. She'd never been happier to see any of them. Alone each one of the blond men was dangerous. Together, they were invincible.
Side by side with Valerius, she fought the Daimons while Kyrian, Julian, and Talon joined the fight. With the five of them, it didn't take any time at all to finish the Daimons off. In truth, it was a colorful display as one by one the Daimons disintegrated.
Except for the one who had struck her. The ghost wrapped itself around that particular Daimon and the two of them appeared to evaporate into nothing. Tabitha frowned at the peculiar sight. Until she heard Kyrian's resonant curse. One moment Valerius was beside her, the next he was being slammed face-first into the wall.
"You bastard!" Kyrian snarled as he pummeled him. Valerius ducked the blows and whirled to the side. He slammed Kyrian into the wall and would have pinned him had Julian not grabbed him from behind.
The next thing she knew, Julian was hitting Valerius, too. Without thinking, Tabitha rushed Julian, knocking him back. She put herself between the Roman and the two Greeks.
"Get out of my way, Tabitha," Kyrian said as he glared his hatred at Valerius. "I don't want Amanda pissed at me because I hurt you for being stupid."
"And I don't want Amanda pissed at me because I permanently maimed you for being an idiot."
"This isn't a game, Tabitha," Julian said sternly. In his human life, Julian had been the Greek general who had commanded Kyrian. Unfortunately, he'd run afoul of the gods, who had cursed him into a book to be a sex slave to whatever woman summoned him out.
Selena's best friend Grace Alexander had set the half-god free.
Since then, Julian had often joined ranks with the Dark-Hunters to fight the Daimons, and now he was joining ranks with Kyrian to kill Valerius.
It was something she would never allow.
She held her arms out to keep them back. "No, it isn't."
"It's all right, Tabitha," Valerius said from behind her. "This is a confrontation that's been a long time coming."
"Talon," Tabitha said, glancing over to the tall blond Celt who was standing behind his Greek friends. As always, Talon was dressed like a biker in a black motorcycle jacket, T-shirt, and leather pants. His hair was cut short except for two thin braids that hung from his left temple. "Are you going to help me?"
Talon grimaced. "Unfortunately, yes." He moved to stand with her.
"Celt-" Kyrian snarled.
His face determined, Talon crossed his arms over his chest.
"Look," Tabitha said between clenched teeth. "We have bigger problems right now than you two hating Valerius and his family."
"Like what?" Kyrian asked.
Tabitha pointed to the ground where Ash still lay.
Kyrian's face went pale as his gaze focused on Ash's body. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Tabitha said. "One of the Daimons did that to him and we need to get him to safety."
Kyrian passed a grudging, angry look at Valerius. "We're not through."
Valerius said nothing as he moved toward Ash.
When he started to lift Ash up, Kyrian shoved him back. "Get your filthy hands off him, Roman. We don't need your help. We take care of our own."
"Valerius happens to be the only Dark-Hunter here," Tabitha snapped at her brother-in-law. "He has more right to help Ash-"
"Greeks don't want or need Roman help," Julian said as he brushed roughly past Valerius.
Tabitha felt Valerius's anger, his pain, but most of all, she felt shame from him.
Why?
"Val?"
As soon as it was out of her mouth, Tabitha realized she'd just made a strategic mistake. Kyrian let out a vulgar curse. "Oh, don't tell me you've taken up with him. Shit, Tabitha, I thought even you had more sense than that."
That was it! Tabitha went to stand in front of him. "Get off the cross, Kyrian. Literally." She gestured behind her to Valerius. "He didn't hurt you."
Kyrian curled his lip at her. "How do you know? Were you there?"
"Ooo, childish much? No, I wasn't there. But I can do math and I know how old he was when you were killed. What? You let a five-year-old nail you down?"
Someone grabbed her from behind. Tabitha started to attack until she realized it was Valerius pulling her back. "Don't, Tabitha. Just let it go."
"Why should I? I'm tired of the way they treat you. Aren't you?"
Valerius's face was completely stoic, but his heart wasn't. She felt his pain. "I honestly don't care what they think of me. I really don't. And you don't need to alienate your entire family. Just leave this alone."
"Why?"
Valerius looked past her to Kyrian, then he stared at her. Hard. "This will wait. Right now, Acheron and you need to be safe. Go with Kyrian."
Tabitha wanted to argue, but he was right and she wasn't so stubborn as to not recognize that basic fact. The longer they stood out here arguing, the more danger Ash was in, especially since Simi wasn't here to protect him.
Their first priority was to get Ash to safety. "You be careful."
Valerius gave her a strangely tender Roman salute, then spun on his heel and left them.
"You're unbelievable," Kyrian snarled as he and Julian lifted Acheron's body up from the ground. "I can't believe you screamed at Amanda about me and you'd cuddle up to that bastard."
"Shut up, Kyrian," Tabitha said. "Unlike Amanda, I don't mind staking you straight through the heart."
"Where are we taking T-Rex?" Talon asked as he grabbed Ash's feet and helped to carry him.
"Back to my house," Kyrian answered. "After the attack of that demon on Bride Kattalakis when she was visiting us, Ash put some kind of mojo on it to make it safe. I figure whatever did this to him can't come back and hurt him if he's there."
Talon nodded. "What exactly did this to him?"
Tabitha shrugged. "I don't know. He was hit with something and poof, down he went. It happened so fast, I didn't even see what they hit him with."
Talon let out a slow breath. "Man, I wouldn't have thought anything could bring down Ash. Not like this."
"Yeah," Tabitha agreed, "but at least he's still alive. Kind of... in a freaky sort of way."
She didn't want to admit to them just how frightened she was of the fact that the Daimons had brought the powerful Atlantean down without breaking a sweat. If they could do this, then there was no telling what they could do to the rest of them.
Which begged the question of why the Daimons had left them alone when they could have killed them, too.
It didn't make sense.
They wended their way down the darker, less traveled alleys, watching for Daimons and innocent passersby who might call the cops if they saw them carrying what appeared to be a dead body as they headed for Julian's Land Rover.
Tabitha got in the backseat with Ash while Talon stayed behind to continue patrolling for Daimons. Getting into the front passenger's seat, Kyrian remained sullenly silent while Julian drove them over to the Garden District where Kyrian's mansion stood less than two blocks away from Valerius's.
She wondered if either man realized just how close they lived to each other. They were practically neighbors and yet they were divided by infinite hatred.
Putting that out of her mind, she ran her hand over Ash's hair. It had an odd, spongy texture. His eyes were half-open and for once the silvery color didn't swirl. It was terrifying to think something could do this to him and none of them knew what it was or if they could restore him.
God, what would happen if they couldn't?
What would happen to the Dark-Hunters if they didn't have Ash to lead them anymore? It was a terrifying thought. He always knew what to do and to say. How to make things better for everyone.
Biting her lip, Tabitha fought her panic down. Simi would get help for Ash. There was no way she wouldn't.
The men got out and pulled Ash from the seat, then carried him into the house with Tabitha one step behind them.
Amanda came off the sofa the instant she saw Ash being carried into her foyer. "Oh my God, what happened?"
"We don't know," Kyrian said as he and Julian carried Ash toward the mahogany stairs.
"Tabby?" Amanda asked.
She shrugged as she followed after the men. Amanda joined the procession up the stairs. As they reached the top landing, a tall African-American man came out of one of the guest rooms.
"Acheron?" he said, his voice thickly accented.
"We don't know what happened," Kyrian said in answer to his unasked question as they brushed past him.
"Hi, I'm Tabitha," she said, extending her hand to the new Dark-Hunter who was guarding her family.
"Kassim," he said, shaking her hand before they both followed the men into Ash's room.
Once they had Ash safely tucked into the bed, Kyrian curled his lip at Tabitha. "Why don't you ask your sister about her new friend, Amanda?"
"Kyrian," Tabitha said in warning. "Lay off or you will limp."
"What friend?" Amanda asked.
"Valerius Magnus," Julian said. "They were rather friendly tonight when we found them."
"Yes, we were," Tabitha said. "And it's none of your business."
Amanda gave her a harsh stare. "Tabitha-"
"Shut up!" Tabitha snapped. "Look, I will gladly submit to the 'jump all over sister Tabitha' session after we help Ash. Right now, I'm going to start calling some people and see if anyone knows how to fix this. You guys can stand here with your thumbs up your butts and roast me all you want, but I'm not listening."
Pulling her phone off her belt, Tabitha headed for the stairs, then down to the living room and called Tia, who was completely useless for this.
"C'mon, T," Tabitha begged her sister. "There has to be an undo spell."
"Not if you don't know what caused it. Ash isn't exactly human, Tab. One wrong move and we could really do some damage to him."
Tabitha growled into the phone, then hung up. Amanda had just joined her in the living room when they heard something hit the front door so hard, it rattled the hinges.
Handing the phone to Amanda, Tabitha pulled her stiletto from her boot.
"Akri!" Simi's maniacal wail echoed through the house like vicious thunder. "Let the Simi in, akri!"
"What is that?" Amanda asked, her face ashen.
"It's Ash's demon."
"Simi is making that godawful sound?" Kyrian asked as he and Julian ran down the stairs.
"Looks like," Tabitha said as she headed toward the door.
Kyrian beat her to it. "No!" he snarled. "It could be a trick."
"Trick my ass," she muttered. "Simi? Is it you outside?"
"Tabitha, let me in. I can't help akri if I can't see him. I gots to help my akri. Lemme in or the Simi will barbecue this door, so help me."
"You can't, Simi. The shield would hurt you if you tried to. They have to invite you in."
Tabitha froze as she heard the unfamiliar, gentle feminine voice on the other side of the door. It held just a faint hint of a foreign accent. "Who's with you, Sim?"
"One of the bitch-goddess's koris, they them people who serve her in her temple on Olympus. Katra good quality people who gonna help my akri. Now let the Simi in!"
"It's okay," Tabitha said to Kyrian. "I know Simi well enough to vouch that it's really her out there."
Kyrian gave her a menacing stare. "Yeah, and you know Valerius, too. That gives me so much faith in your judgment-not."
Tabitha went rigid. "Amanda, if your husband's balls have any meaning to you, I suggest you move him out of my way or he's going to be singing in soprano."
"Let her open the door, Kyrian."
"Like hell," he snarled. "My daughter is asleep upstairs."
"Her niece is asleep upstairs," Amanda reminded him. "Tabitha would never endanger Marissa. Now move."
Kyrian made a gesture as if he'd like to choke both of them, then stepped aside.
Tabitha swung open the door to see Simi outside with an extremely tall, robed woman.
Neither woman asked where Ash was, they seemed to know instinctively.
"Don't worry, Tabby," Simi said as the unbelievably tall woman headed toward the stairs. "Katra will never hurt my akri. She loves him like us."
Katra didn't listen to Simi as she made her way up the stairs of the unfamiliar house. Then again, there was no such thing as an unfamiliar house to her. She'd inherited great powers from both her father and mother, including the ability to feel the essence and layout of buildings.
This house echoed warmth, respect, and love. No wonder Acheron liked to stay here whenever he visited New Orleans. This was a wonderful home and Marissa was a lucky child to live here. How she wished she'd known such a place as a little girl.
She opened the last door on the hallway to find Acheron lying prone on a large, four-poster bed.
Kat paused at the sight of Acheron there. Never in all these centuries had she been so close to him. As a young woman, she'd often tried to catch glimpses of him as he came and went on Olympus to see Artemis. Like all of the goddess' servants, Kat was banished from the temple whenever he visited.
She more than any other was forbidden to ever be near him. And now...
She'd waited all her life for this one, single moment. For one chance to touch him. Know him.
To feel his arms around her, just once.
Her heart pounding, she crossed the room to stand beside the bed that didn't really accommodate his tall, lean frame. The pallor and odd color of his skin did nothing to detract from the fact that he was without a doubt the most handsome man who had ever been born.
But he was so much more than external beauty.
Even in stasis, he was commanding and frightening. She could feel his powers reaching out to her. Calling to her.
He was power incarnate.
More than that, he was invaluable to the order of the universe. If Acheron should ever die...
It didn't bear thinking on.
Using her own powers, which were second only to his, Kat shut and locked the bedroom door with her thoughts before she lowered her cowl and sat beside him. She wanted a few minutes alone with him where no one could observe them.
"You are so handsome," she breathed as she traced the line of his eyebrows.
Since the moment she had first glimpsed him when she was a young child, she'd yearned to touch his hand. Yearned to have him call her by name.
Or better yet, yearned just to have him know she existed at all.
But it wasn't meant to be.
Artemis would always stand between them. She had ordained centuries ago that no one, especially not Kat, could ever touch the sacred Acheron.
Yet here she sat, alone with him, far away from the goddess's watchful stare.
Deep-seated emotions engulfed her. Unable to stand the tide of them, Kat lay against him and hugged him close, wishing he were awake to know her. To feel her.
But he wasn't.
He would never know she'd been here. That she had been the one to help him. Simi was forbidden to tell him and as soon as she vanished, the others below would forget they had ever seen her, too.
"I love you," she whispered against his ear. "I always will." She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek before she pulled back and took his large hand into hers.
Tears streaked her face as she brushed his fingers against her cheek. "One day," she breathed, "we will' know each other. I promise."
Kat unlocked the door with her powers, then pulled a small satchel out of her pocket. It held three leaves from the Tree of Life that only bloomed in the garden of the Destroyer, deep in the halls of her temple in Kalosis. It alone could break the ypnsi, the sacred sleep that Orasia had once dispensed from the sacred halls of Katoteros back in the days when the ancient Atlantean gods had ruled the earth.
This alone could restore Acheron to his full strength.
Kat wrung the leaves until they were moist. Holding them over Acheron's lips, she twisted, more until they were able to drip nine drops into his mouth.
She watched as the color spread from his lips, slowly, over the rest of his body.
He took a deep breath, then opened his eyes.
She vanished instantly.
Ash felt the air stir around him. He sat up quickly, then wished he hadn't as pain swept through his body.
Wiping his lips, he grimaced at the bitter, nasty taste in his mouth.
"Akri?"
His heart stopped beating as he heard Simi's hesitant voice an instant before she burst into the room and leapt onto the bed beside him.
Suddenly, everything came back to him. The Daimons.
The blow...
What the hell had hit him?
"Simi, what am I doing here?"
She tackled him with a hug that left him flat on his back with her wrapped around his upper torso. "You scared the Simi, akri. She didn't know what was wrong with you. You turned all gray and nasty like one of them statues or something. You not supposed to do that! You said so."
"I'm okay, Sim," he said, cradling her. "I think. Why am I in Kyrian's house... with you in human form?"
"We brought you here."
Ash tensed at the sound of Kyrian's voice. He sat up slowly with Simi still hugging him.
With his arms folded over his chest, Kyrian stood in the doorway with Julian and Amanda.
"You okay?" Kyrian asked.
Ash nodded. "I think so. Still a little fuzzy, but breathing." Or at least trying to given the fact Simi was latched onto him like a protective mother bear.
"Do you know what happened to you?" Tabitha asked from somewhere out in the hallway.
Unfortunately yes, but it wasn't something they needed to know about since Simi had gone for the antidote and restored him. Thank the gods she'd understood his order.
If the others ever learned who and what he was...
But that begged the question: Who among the Daimons knew the truth of him? How did they know to strike him with the one compound that could actually neutralize him?
Not that it would work again. As long as he knew to expect it, he knew to guard against it.
Pain to the next one dumb enough to attempt hurting him.
"Okay, Simi," Ash said, patting the demon on her back. "You can let go."
"No, I can't," she said as she tightened her hold. "You got all grisly, akri. Like one of them things at home. Ew! The Simi don't like that. You gots to stay nice and pink like you're supposed to. Or blue. I don't mind it when you're blue. In skin, that is. When you blue in spirit, it makes the Simi sad, too."
"Okay, Simi," Ash said, cutting her off before she told something she wasn't supposed to.
"Your skin turns blue?" Kyrian asked.
"Everyone's skin turns blue when they're cold," he answered evasively.
Ash slid off the bed in spite of Simi's hold, which had yet to lessen. He needed to get out of this room to distract them from the fact that he'd come about as close to dying as his kind could.
Simi moved to stand behind him and kept her arms locked tightly around his waist.
"I think someone's attached to you, T-Rex," Talon said with a laugh.
"Yeah, just a little." Ash made his way from the room.
"Can we have some ice cream?" Simi asked as she finally let go. She started for the stairs, then veered off to Marissa's nursery to peek inside the closed door. "Sh!" Simi said loudly as she straightened up. "The baby's sleeping."
"Yeah, and Tabitha's sneaking away," Kyrian said. "Are you running off to meet up with Valerius?"
Tabitha went rigid at his question. "Tell me something, Ash," she said in a low tone as she neared him on the stairs. "Would Artemis care if I killed an ex-Dark-Hunter?"
"No, but I think your sister would."
Tabitha looked over her shoulder to see Amanda. "Then she better up her insurance on him. 'Cause he's one step away from a nasty tumble down these stairs."
"Don't threaten me, Tabby," Kyrian said. "You were so foul to me when you found out I was with Amanda. You actually tried to kill me. Now you're hooking up with the worst sort of lowlife. Tell her, Ash. His kind killed without compassion."
Tabitha whirled at the top of the stairs to face him. "His kind? What, an ancient general? Seems like I know two other people who were his kind." She looked meaningfully from Kyrian to Julian.
"Tabitha," Amanda said. "Enough. You knew how Kyrian felt about Valerius. How could you do this to us?"
Ash rubbed his head as if he had a headache. "People, leave Tabitha alone. I'm the one who put her with Valerius."
"Why?" Kyrian, Julian, and Amanda asked in unison.
Ash paused on the top step to give Tabitha a dry stare. "Tabby, what's your ideal man like?"
"Honestly?"
Ash nodded.
"You," she said without hesitation. "Someone tall, gorgeous, hip, and Goth."
"And what do you think of Valerius?"
She glanced hesitantly at her sister. "He's a stick in the mud, but I really like him."
Kyrian and Julian cursed.
"Tabitha..." Amanda said in a warning tone.
"Don't 'Tabitha' me. Jeez, I'm tired of all of you jumping on me." Tabitha descended the stairs and headed for the door to leave.
As soon as she opened it, she met Nick on the steps, who grinned at her before he entered the foyer. He brushed by her before she thought to warn him Ash was in the house...
With Simi.
Gawking, Tabitha turned.
"Hey, Nicky!" Simi said, her face beaming as she danced away from Ash finally to wave at Nick.
Tabitha went cold with dread.
And she knew the instant Ash realized Simi "knew" Nick. His face mottled red with fury.
Nick froze, then gaped.
Simi appeared oblivious to the mayhem she caused. "Nicky," she said, putting her hands on her hips as she pouted at him. "Why didn't you meet me tonight like you said you would?"
Nick's mouth opened and closed as Ash let out a bellow of rage. He grabbed Nick by the throat and slung him against the wall. Nick hit it so hard, he actually went through the plaster.
Tabitha cringed in sympathetic pain as Nick struggled to rise through the powder of the plaster. "I didn't know she was your girlfriend, Ash," Nick panted. "I swear it."
Ash's silver eyes turned a glowing shade of red. "She's not my girlfriend, you asshole. She's my daughter."
Tabitha wouldn't have thought it possible, but Nick turned even paler. "But she's so... so young... you're so young..." Nick swallowed audibly. "I'm so screwed."
Ash's eyes appeared to boil red and yellow as he hit Nick so hard, Nick was knocked back twenty feet into Kyrian.
Marissa started crying from upstairs.
"Amanda, tend your baby," Ash snarled in a voice that wasn't human. It was deep and rumbling. Frightening.
While he was distracted, Tabitha ran at Ash, but he held his hand out and she stopped dead in her tracks and was held there by some invisible force.
"Akri!" Simi shrieked. "No!"
Ash moved toward Nick, but before he could take more than two steps Simi was between them.
Tabitha cringed as Ash let out an agonized cry.
"You were never to have carnal knowledge!" he said to his demon.
While the rest of them feared for their lives, Simi was completely unperturbed by his anger.
"Why not?" Simi asked. "Everyone else has it."
Ash raked his hands through his black hair. "Because, dammit, Simi, now you'll be like everyone else. I'll never have any peace from you."
Simi screwed her face up as if that was the most disgusting thing she'd ever heard. "Pah-lease, akri. You got a big opinion of yourself. That just sick. You been hanging out with that heifer too long. Bleh! I mean, you a good-looking person and all, but you ain't no Travis Fimmel. Now, he's fine. But honestly, the Simi didn't like all that heaving and sweating very much. It seems like an awful lot of work for such a short amount of pleasure. Personally, I'd rather go shopping. It much more fun and you don't have to shower afterward. Well, not unless you go someplace dirty, but most malls are really clean nowadays."
Nick opened his mouth as if to refute her words, but was cut off by Talon, who shook his head.
"Boy," Talon said sharply. "Be damned glad you suck in bed and take the out she's offering you before you lose your life."
"Yeah, Nick," Kyrian added. "Keep your damned mouth shut."
Ignoring the two of them, Ash pulled Simi to him and held her close as if afraid of letting her go.
Whatever invisible force held Tabitha released her. She took a deep breath as the very air around them seemed to settle down.
But when Ash looked back at Nick, his eyes were still blazing red. "You're dead to me, Gautier. If I were you I'd kill myself to save me from the trouble of doing it later."
"Hey!" Tabitha snapped as Ash headed for the door.
"That was harsh."
"Back off, Tabitha," Ash snarled in warning. "Simi, return to me."
The demon turned into a fine, black mist before she laid herself over Ash's arm and became a dragon-shaped tattoo.
Ash immediately slammed out of Kyrian's house. Without hesitation, Tabitha ran after him. "Ash!" she snapped, pulling him to a stop in the driveway. "What are you doing?"
"I'm leaving before I kill Nick."
"You can't blame this solely on him."
"Like hell I can't. He slept with my Simi."
"Well, if you want to hate someone, then hate me. I was the one who left them alone together."
His eyes snapped fire at her. Literally. "Leave me, Tabitha. Now."
"No," she said earnestly. "If you want to hurt someone for this, then hurt the one who is really responsible. You and Nick are best friends. Don't think I don't know it. He loves you like a brother and you just crushed him."
"He slept-"
"I heard you the first time. And I also know how ill Nick was when he found out Simi belonged to you. Tell me something, Ash. Why didn't Nick know about her?"
His jaw worked furiously. "I didn't want any man to know about her. I knew the day would come when she would..." He winced as if the thought cut through him. "You don't understand."
"You're right, I don't. I don't know what happened to you tonight. I don't know what's after me. I don't understand what the hell you turned into a few minutes ago or why your eyes are doing the freaky fire dance now. What are you? 'Cause right now, I'm wondering if you were ever human."
His eyes flashed red to silver. "I was human, once," he breathed.
"And now?"
"Now it's time for you both to die."
The eerie, threatening words barely registered before something hot pierced Tabitha's stomach.