Valynda lay there, completely spent and weak. She breathed raggedly as Nibo gathered her into his arms and held her close. He kissed her brow and cradled her head with his hands. “I wish I could stay here with you forever. No war. No Malachai. Just us.”
She understood exactly what he meant. She felt the same way. If only they could.
But they had the world to try and save.
First, they needed to get dressed.
As soon as she had her gown in place, Valynda opened the door to find the Dark-Huntress, Janice Smith, outside. Her face heated up as she realized that Janice must have heard them. To her credit, the beautiful Trini didn’t say a word. “I left me book.”
Valynda gulped. “Ah. I didn’t see it.”
“I’ll look for it … later.”
Embarrassed to the core of her being, Valynda did her best not to think of it and to wonder how Acheron was faring with his task. …
Nibo watched as Valynda rushed off. Her embarrassment about such things had forever amused him. Both in this life and her previous one.
Smiling, he retrieved Janice’s book and handed it to her on his way out.
The Dark-Huntress stopped him from leaving. “Don’t you think it odd?”
“What?”
“If she is your fiancée returned, why now? After all these centuries? Why was she kept from you and then returned at this particular time and place? From my experience and knowledge, such things are never accidental.” And with that Janice walked away.
Nibo sucked his breath in sharply as he realized something that should have occurred to him. But he’d been so happy and caught up in her return that he hadn’t thought about it.
Until now.
Janice was right. They’d been reunited for a reason. And his experience was that such things were never done for a good one.
Shit.
What? You have something better to do in your useless, eternal existence?” Acheron still couldn’t believe Madoc had refused his request.
But then why was he surprised? Nothing ever came easy to them.
Almost as tall as Acheron, Madoc had jet-black hair and eerie blue eyes like all the Oneroi, or Dream-Hunters, as they were known since they patrolled the sleep of humans and Dark-Hunters to keep them safe from preternatural predators and demons who could prey on them in that unconscious state when they were so vulnerable. Sadly, they’d all been cursed centuries before to have no emotions, after one of them had played a prank on Zeus while he slept.
The head Greek god had never been known for his sense of humor. Instead of punishing just the one who’d done it, he’d taken his wrath out on their entire race.
All of them had been rounded up and stripped of their emotions so that they’d never again want or desire amusement or anything else.
What Zeus hadn’t realized was that in the dream realm, they’d be able to bond with those they visited and feel whatever their “host” felt. That some of them would then begin to crave or become addicted to the emotions they lacked and thus turn into their own form of demonic creature who then preyed on humanity, gods, and others. Such creatures were termed Skoti.
And Skoti were hunted by Madoc and his crew of Oneroi, who wanted to make sure that Zeus and the others never rounded them up again for further punishment. Apparently once with the big guy was enough to ensure Madoc never wanted a repeat.
Hence the droll stare on the god’s face as he smirked at Acheron. For someone with no emotion, he was doing a good job imitating a look of disgust. “As a matter of fact, I do. There’s been a major Skoti uprising with the Malachai. We’ve been quite busy trying to keep them from driving humanity crazy. Literally.”
“And this is just as important. Trust me. Weaken the Malachai and your Skoti will go back to behaving.”
“They never behave.”
Probably true, as it was true for most creatures when given a choice between doing what was right and what was wrong. Most went left instead of right.
Even Acheron had been known to stray down that path. Sometimes for the right reasons. To his eternal shame, sometimes not.
However …
