Urian went still as he watched her, cautiously. There was something strange about her that he didn’t quite understand. An odd undercurrent between her and Styxx.
“She’s over there.” Then she crossed the short distance to embrace his friend.
What the hell?
Styxx’s breathing turned ragged at her touch. He clenched his fists tight.
“At last,m’gios.” Atlantean formy son.“You’ve come to set me free.” She placed a kiss on his cheek and then whispered in his ear words that Urian barely heard. They were harsh and cold and made him suck his breath in sharply. “For my son’s sake, you better embrace me, Greek whoreson. If I can touch something as vile and repugnant as you, you can touch divinity.”
Urian knew his friend well enough to read the fury in his body language as he forced himself to hug her. Nodding to her, Styxx stepped back, then headed for the door.
Before Styxx reached it, a tall, thin woman with brown hair and very pretty features came running out of the room. She wore a black jacket that was much too large for her and clutched it over her shirt, which had been torn open.
Oh shit. Urian cringed as dread went through him. If anyone had done to her what he feared, Acheron would tear this place down.
And the world would end.
All of a sudden, she threw herself into Styxx’s arms and kissed him. Then she stiffened and pulled back slowly to stare up at him suspiciously.
Double shit.
Urian passed a panicked stare to Davyn as they both waited for everyone to realize that he wasn’t Acheron.
And they probably would have, had Nick Gautier not chosen that moment to walk out of his father’s study.
Unholy crap …
There was something you didn’t see every day. A Malachai sporting a Dark-Hunter bow-and-arrow mark on his left cheek that made it look like Artemis had bitch-slapped him when she marked him. His eyes dark with rage and madness, Nick ran at Styxx as if he intended to kill him. But before he could reach him, Urian grabbed Nick and shoved him back into the room where they’d been.
Styxx pulled Tory in after them.
And Urian realized just how fucked they all were as he saw his aunt’s dead body on the floor.
This just gets better and better.
Panicked, he looked at Styxx and Tory. “We have to go.” Then he looked at Nick. “And you need to come with us.”
Nick curled his lip in obvious hatred. “I’m not going anywhere withhim.I’d rather be dead.”
Urian forced Nick to look down at Satara’s body. “I’m going to make the wildly founded assumption that Satara’s dead by your hand and not Tory’s.”
Gripping Nick’s chin, Urian forced him to meet his gaze. “Now, stay with me on this, Cajun. My father slit my throat and murdered my wife because he thought I’d betrayed him by getting married. Before that, he loved me more than his life, and I was his last surviving child. His second-in-command. Now what do you think he’s going to do to you once he sees her body? I can assure you, it won’t be a fun-filled trip to Chuck E. Cheese. For all their animosity toward each other, Satara is his sister and she’s served him well over the centuries. If you really want to stay here and have some fun with Stryker, I won’t stop you. But I really wouldn’t recommend it.”
’Cause Stryker would gut him just for the shoelaces.
That finally seemed to get through to Nick. Sanity returned to his eyes. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”
While they argued, Styxx cracked the door to check on their restless enemies. “Urian,” he said between clenched teeth. “I think they’re catching on.”
“Catching on to what?” Nick asked.
Tory rolled her eyes at Nick. “That this isn’t Ash.”
The words had barely left her lips before they faded out of the room.
Zolan, Stryker’s third-in-commandand the leader of his personal Illuminati attack force, cleared his throat in the silent room. “Um … boss, I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but why are we still here? I mean, if Acheron has come to free Apollymi, shouldn’t there be an explosion or something?”
The Daimons and demons looked around as if waiting for an opening to the outer world to appear or for Apollymi to burst into song and dance, or for something else unnatural to happen.
