The Dark-Hunters (124 page)

The Daimons, the demons, and the two gods spilled into the room. There was no sign of Zarek anywhere. She only hoped they hadn’t killed him.

Talon jumped up and put himself between Sunshine and the others.

Ash rose to his feet, ready to fight.

“It’s midnight,” Dionysus said with a laugh. “Let the show begin.”

The demons moved aside and out of their midst appeared Acheron’s “twin.”

“Hello, Acheron,” Styxx said in a tone that was neither kind nor welcoming. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Eleven thousand years or so?”

Talon held his breath. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

He had suspected as much, but now the reality of it came crashing down on him. Ash had had a twin brother all this time.

Why had he hidden it? And how could Styxx still be alive and not be a Dark-Hunter too? It didn’t make sense.

Styxx approached Acheron.

“Stand down, Styxx,” Ash said sternly. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. I won’t let you release her.”

Styxx met Talon’s gaze and laughed. “It’s like some bad soap opera, isn’t it? Good twin, bad twin.”

His furious gaze returned to Acheron. “But then, we’re not really twins, are we, Acheron? We just happened to have shared the same womb for a while.”

Styxx moved to stand behind Ash who tensed noticeably. It wasn’t like Ash to allow anyone to do that to him and yet he appeared to be frozen by some unseen force.

Styxx was so close to him that barely a hand separated them.

They didn’t touch.

Styxx leaned forward to speak in a low tone near Ash’s ear. “Shall we tell him who the good one is, Acheron? Should I tell him which of us lived his life with dignity? Which of us was respected by the Greeks and Atlanteans and who was laughed at?”

Styxx reached his hand around Ash’s neck and placed it in the exact spot where Ash’s scar often resided.

He pulled Ash back against him so that he could whisper in Ash’s ear in a language Talon couldn’t understand.

Ash panted as if in the throes of a nightmare.

His eyes were haunted and glazed, his breathing ragged. Still he didn’t move to break Styxx’s hold.

Talon watched, unsure of what he should do. Surely Ash could handle this. He’d never known of anything Ash couldn’t handle.

“That’s it, Acheron,” Styxx said in English, between clenched teeth. “Remember the past. Remember what you were. I want you to relive it all. Relive every foul thing you ever did. Every tear you made my parents weep for you. Every moment I had to look at you and feel ashamed that you bore my face.”

Talon watched as tears filled Ash’s eyes and he trembled. He didn’t know what secrets Ash hid, but they must be hideous to affect him like this.

Personally, he didn’t care what Ash had done in his past. For fifteen hundred years, he had never known Ash to be anything but caring and decent.

Secrets or not, the two of them were friends.

“Let him go,” Talon ordered.

Styxx cocked his head, but he refused to release Ash. He tightened his grip on Ash’s throat. “Do you remember when Estes died, Acheron? The way my father and I found you? I have never been able to forget it. Every time I have ever thought of you, it’s the image I have. You’re repulsive. Disgusting.”

“Kill him,” Dionysus ordered, “and open the portal.”

Styxx didn’t seem to hear him, his attention was fixed on Ash.

Camulus started toward them with a dagger. Talon rushed him and they fought for the weapon.

The demons attacked as Styxx continued to taunt and insult Ash.

“Kill him, Styxx,” Dionysus ordered again. “Or we’ll miss the portal.”

Styxx pulled a dagger out from underneath his coat.

His fight with Camulus forgotten, Talon tried to reach them.

But he couldn’t make it.

Styxx raised his hand and sent the dagger straight into Ash’s heart. He buried it all the way to its hilt.

Ash gasped and arched his back as if something had possessed him. The dagger shot through the air, bouncing off a wall above Dionysus’s head. Light poured out of the wound, then seared it closed.

In the next instant a shock wave went through the room, knocking everyone off their feet. Styxx was hurled to a far corner while the gods were pinned to the ground.

Acheron rose from the floor, to hover spread-eagled several inches above it.

Unable to stand upright against the unseen force, Talon crawled to Sunshine and held her close so that he could protect her from whatever was happening.

No one could stand. Not even the gods.

Lightning bolts shot through Acheron’s body, blowing out the windows and the lights. Electrical energy snapped and hissed all around. Acheron laid his head back as bolts of light pierced his eyes and mouth. They seemed to shoot through him and then out, into the room, emitting bright flashes of light.

The Daimons and the demons exploded in one bright flash.

A winged dragon seemed to come out from under Acheron’s sleeve and wrap itself around him as if it were protecting him.

Or perhaps devouring him.

In all his life, Talon had never seen anything like this.

“What the hell is that?” Camulus asked. “Styxx, what did you do?”

“Nothing. Is this from the portal opening?”

“No,” Dionysus said. “This is something else entirely. Something no one told me about.” He looked up at the ceiling and shouted, “Artemis!”

Artemis appeared and was immediately pinned to the floor with the rest of them.

Talon tightened his grip on Sunshine, who clutched him fiercely as she trembled against him.

Artemis took one look at Acheron and her face went flush with anger. “Who’s the idiot who pissed off Acheron?” she demanded.

The two gods pointed to Styxx.

“You fools!” she snarled. “What were you thinking?”

“We needed to kill an Atlantean to raise the Destroyer,” Dionysus said. “Acheron’s the only one left.”

“Oh, you are so stupid!” Artemis snapped. “I knew your plan had to be a bad one. You can’t just kill him with a dagger. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s not human. Where was your brain?”

Dionysus curled his lips at her. “How was I to know your pet was a god-killer? What kind of idiot ties herself down to one of his kind?”

“Well, gee, what was I supposed to do?” Artemis shot back. “Hook up with Mr. All-powerful God-killer or get myself a Mardi Gras float and hang out with him?” She pointed to Camulus, who looked extremely offended by her comment. “You’re such a moron,” she said to her brother. “No wonder you’re the patron god of drunken frat boys.”

“Excuse me,” Talon snapped at them. “Could you gods focus for a sec? We have a bit of a situation here.”

“Oh, shut up,” Dionysus snapped. “I knew I should have backed up when I ran you over.”

Talon’s jaw went slack. “That was you who hit me with the float?”

“Yes.”

“Damn, boy,” Camulus said to Dionysus. “You’ve fallen a long way down. Yesterday Greek god … today incompetent float driver. Sheez, and I hooked up with you? What was I thinking? Artemis is right, what kind of idiot picks a float to mow a guy down so that he can go home with his dead wife? You’re lucky you didn’t kill him then and blow the entire plan.”

“Hey, have you ever tried to drive one of those things? It’s not exactly easy. Besides, he’s a Dark-Hunter. I knew it wouldn’t kill him. I just needed something that would hurt him enough to make her take him home. Need I remind you that it did work?”

Artemis growled at them. “You’re so pathetic. I can’t believe we share a common gene between us.”

Shooting a nasty glare at her brother, Artemis struggled against the invisible force that held them down. Like the rest of them, she couldn’t reach Ash.

“Acheron!” she called. “Can you hear me?”

Disembodied laughter filled the room.

Ash leaned his head forward and more lightning flowed through him. The dragonlike beast tightened its grip around him and hissed a fiery breath at the goddess.

Artemis tried to climb up his leg, but she was forced back, away from him.

“You know, folks,” Camulus shouted. “The idea was to kill Acheron, free Apollymi, and reclaim our god status. Not piss him off and end the world. Personally, I don’t want to be ruler of nothing. But if someone doesn’t stop this guy, that chant he’s making is going to undo life as we know it and un-create the world.”

“What are we going to do?” Sunshine asked Talon.

Only one thing came to his mind.

He had to bring Acheron to his senses.

Talon kissed her lips, then moved away from her. He hadn’t gone through death to get her back, only to lose her now.

He summoned his remaining powers and allowed them to cocoon him. He no longer had his Dark-Hunter immortality, but he did retain all the psychic powers that had been given to him.

Hopefully they would be enough.

He rose slowly to his feet.

A lightning bolt came at him.

Talon deflected it. He moved slowly through the maelstrom until he reached Ash’s side. So long as he stayed calm, he seemed to be shielded from Ash’s wrath.

“Let it go, T-Rex.”

Ash spoke to him in a language he didn’t understand.

“He says to back off or die,” Styxx translated. “He’s summoning the Destroyer.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Talon said.

The laughter echoed again.

Wanting to distract Acheron from what he was chanting, and not knowing anything else to try, Talon rushed him.

He caught Ash about the middle and knocked him to the floor. The dragon arched up, shrieking.

Talon ignored it as he slugged Ash.

Sunshine held her breath as she watched the two of them fighting. The entire building felt as if it were going to break apart.

The floor beneath her shook.

They were locked together like two great primal beasts and the fate of the world lay in who would win and who would lose.

She whispered a prayer as she watched them, awed by the morbid beauty and grace of their battle.

Zarek came through the door, bleeding, and was immediately thrown backward, against a wall.

Artemis tried again to reach Acheron and again he tossed her back while he fought with Talon.

“I’ll give the boy credit,” Camulus said. “He always was a fighter.”

Talon stopped fighting as he heard those words.

“You never could learn your place, Speirr. You never knew when you should just lay down the sword and play nice.”

Camulus had been right. Up until now, Talon had never known when to fight and when to withdraw.

Being calm was what had allowed him to reach Ash.

Then, he remembered what Acheron had said to him on the night he’d become a Dark-Hunter.
“I can show you how to bury that pain so deep inside you that it will prick you no more. But be warned that nothing is ever given freely and nothing lasts forever. One day something will come along to make you feel again and with it, it will bring the pain of the ages upon you. All you have hidden will come out and it could destroy not only you but anyone near you.”

He wondered now who those words had really been meant for. Him or Ash?

He looked up at Acheron and saw the fury of the man who was attacking him. This was what Ash had meant that night.

Both of them had kept such a leash on themselves for so long that their fury blinded them to reason. It made them attack when they needed to withdraw and rethink the line of battle.

Closing his eyes, Talon summoned the soothing calm, as Acheron had taught him.

Ash rushed him again.

This time, instead of fighting, Talon embraced him like a brother.

Possessed of a strength and power Talon had never known before, he cupped Ash’s face in his hands and tried to make his old friend see him.

Ash’s features were no longer handsome or human. They were those of a twisted demon. His eyes were blood-red and yellow, and there was no mercy in them. They were cold. Vicious.

The colors swirled and danced like fire.

Talon had never seen anything like this before.

Who knew Ash had this kind of power?

But he had to stop him.

One way or another.

“Acheron,” he said calmly, slowly. “Enough.”

At first he didn’t think Ash had heard him. Not until Acheron turned his head to see Sunshine on the floor.

“Talon,” he rasped hoarsely. Ash’s eyes flickered, then he looked back at Talon.

Suddenly, another shock wave shot through the room, this one in the reverse direction from the first. It was as if the unleashed power were drawing back into Acheron.

The dragon shot up toward the ceiling, then vanished.

Ash’s features transformed back into the face of the man Talon had known these centuries past.

Ash blinked his now silver eyes and looked around as if he were waking up from a nightmare.

Without a single comment, Ash stepped away from Talon, wrapped his arms around his chest, and walked across the room as if nothing had happened.

As he passed Artemis, she reached for him, but he dodged her touch and kept walking.

Artemis turned on her brother with a snarl. “Just you wait till Dad gets his hands on you.”

“Me? He knew what I had planned tonight. Wait until I tell him about Acheron!”

Artemis curled her lip. “Oh, shut up, whiny boy.” She held her hand out and zapped him out of the room.

Styxx shrank back as Artemis turned her gaze to him.

“You,”
she said, her tone thick with loathing.

Styxx gulped audibly. “How can you protect something like him? After I died, I was sent to the Elysian Fields while he was—”

“No concern of yours,” she said, interrupting him. “You and your precious family, you turned your backs on him and condemned him for something that wasn’t his fault.”

“Not his fault? Please.” Styxx tried to say something more, but his voice vanished.

“That’s better,” Artemis said. “Funny, the two of you sound alike and yet
you
whine. Thank Zeus, Acheron doesn’t have that repugnant quality. But then, he was always a man and not a sniveling little child.”

She backed Styxx against the wall. “I can’t believe you. I gave you a perfect existence. Your own island, filled with everything you could ever desire, and what did you do? You’ve spent eternity hating Acheron, plotting ways to kill him. You don’t deserve mercy.”