For that matter, Urian had Styxx’s phoenix emblem tattooed on his biceps. Best not to ever let Styxx see that, though. It might freak him out. But then Urian was used to keeping it covered. It’d been another thing that had enraged his father.
Much like his shield.
I just excel at pissing off everybody.
Urian paused to look back at the dark temple. Had he not been out for a walk earlier and heard the faint splashing, he’d have never known Styxx was in there. And he’d almost ignored it and kept going. Only his centuries of honed senses and incessant need to check and lock down his perimeter had caused him to investigate the foreign noise.
Wow. As he resumed the path to the main temple, he couldn’t understand Acheron’s reasoning where Styxx was concerned. Having lost all his brothers, he’d give anything to see one of them again. Even Archimedes, who’d bullied and shoved him to the point where Urian had wanted to rip his heart out, more times than not. The two of them could barely be in a room and not walk out bruised from the unfortunate event.
Still he’d welcome that asshole back if he could.
Dang, Ash. Who in their right mind throws out a perfectly good brother?
October 24, 2008
With his arms crossed over his chest, Urian frowned at Ash while Ash sat on his throne in Katateros and played his shiny black Warlock guitar.
A few feet away from them, Simi lay on her stomach, watching QVC as she devoured a tub of barbecue-flavored popcorn. Dressed in black tights and a short plaid skirt with a pink-and-black peasant top and corset, she had her feathered wings draped around her and her tail kept drifting over to poke at her sister during the commercial breaks.
Because apparently annoying your sibling wasn’t just something humans did.
Ignoring the demons, Urian moved to where Alexion stood off to the side, with the same exact expression on his face that Urian had. The one that said Ash was the supervillain who’d been dropped in a vat of acid and they were waiting for his anti-hero powers to manifest and destroy the world.
’Cause face it, for thousands of years, Alexion had been the only person Ash had allowed in his home besides Simi. Of course, that had been out of profound guilt since Alexion had been one of the first Dark-Hunters Artemis created. And when Ash had tried to make Alexion human again to return him to his family, Ash had royally fucked it up.
To spare Alexion an eternity of extreme pain and torture, the best Acheron could do for him was an eternity spent in a quasi-ghost existence by using his own blood to bind Alexion here.
Too bad Savitar hadn’t explained those powers to Ash sooner. It would have saved both of them a lot of grief.
But at least Alexion wasn’t in constant pain and misery. And now he had Danger here for company.
Yet that wasn’t what Urian found disturbing.
Oh no … Not by a long shot.
In all the centuries he had lived, the most terrifying thing ever was the fact that the leader of the Dark-Hunters—the head badass, son of the Destroyer, was sitting there playing …
“ ‘Push’?” By Matchbox Twenty? Seriously?
Urian stared aghast at Alexion. “What’s the deal with the bossman?”
Alexion shrugged. “I don’t know. He came in last night with a book, went to his room to read, I suppose, and then he came out here this morning and has been playing …thosesongs ever since.”
Urian was stunned.Thosesongs were ballads, which Acheronneverplayed.
Godsmack, Sex Pistols, T.S.O.L., Judas Priest, but not …
“Is that …” Urian physically cringed before he spat out the name, “Julio Iglesias?”
“Enrique.”
Urian grimaced in horror. Both at the fact that Acheron was playing it and that Alexion knew it. “I didn’t even know he knew any mellow shit. Dear gods … is he ill?” Was the world coming to an end?
’Cause if it was, he had some stuff he needed to pack and e-mails and Internet history to delete.
“I don’t know. In nine thousand years, I’ve never seen him like this before.”
Urian shuddered. “I’m beginning to get scared. This has to be a sign of the apocalypse. If he breaks out into Air Supply, I say we sneak up on him, drag him outside, and beat the holy shit out of him.”
