The Dark-Hunters (421 page)
Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal, #Vampires, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Paranormal & Urban
“Yeah. She was a lot of fun. But I have a feeling we’ll be seeing her again.”
“I hope so.” Geary turned around and took Arik’s hands into hers. It was so strange to have him here with her. To know so much about him and the other world, but to not be able to share it with anyone, not even Tory or Thia.
But that was okay with Geary. She could definitely live with this secret.
Arik lifted her hand in his and kissed the back of her knuckles. “So when are you going to tell me your news?”
“And what news is that?”
He arched a brow at her and looked down meaningfully at her stomach.
Geary gaped as she caught his meaning. “How did you know about that?”
He gave her a wicked grin. “I still have a lot of my powers, baby. You know that.”
She sighed heavily. “I wanted it to be a surprise.” She pouted playfully until a thought occurred to her. “Do you think the baby will inherit your powers?”
“I don’t know. Possibly.”
Oh, that could be fun. She suddenly had images of Tabitha from
Bewitched
in her mind. Yeah. Just what she needed. A baby who held the powers of a god. But that didn’t really matter. She would love her child no matter what. “Lucy, we’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Yes, we will, but first, Ricky has to make an honest woman of his Lucy.”
Warmth spread through her at his words. “I was wondering when you were going to get around to that.”
“It’s a yes then?”
She gave him a droll stare. “No. I thought I’d walk through hell to reclaim you and carry your baby just for the heck of it. Who needs marriage?”
“I do.”
She smiled. “Good. I can let you live another day.”
Laughing, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. “Thank you, Geary.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a life that is the best dream I’ve ever had.”
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE DREAM-HUNTER
Copyright © 2007 by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
All rights reserved.
For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
ISBN: 0-3 12-93881-0
EAN: 978-0-312-93881-9
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / February 2007
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
eISBN 9781429921527
First eBook edition: February 2014
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DEVIL MAY CRY
SHERRILYN KENYON
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Neco, who will always live in my heart. I miss you much and wish I could “holler at my boy” one more time. To my fans, the Kenyon Minions and RBL women, whose love and support has seen me through countless storms. To Retta, Rebecca, Kim, Vic, and Dianna for holding me up when I needed it most. To Kia, Jack, Jacs, Alex, Carl, Bryan, Soteria, Cee, Judy, and Aimee for all the work you do. To Merrilee, Monique, Sally, Matthew, Matt, John, Brian, Anne-Marie, and everyone else at SMP for all you guys do to get the books to the shelves, and for not cracking my head when I’m late with a manuscript. But most of all, to my family, for allowing Mommy her quiet time, and for eating more pizza than the good Lord ever meant children to eat. To my baby brother Steven, who really does mean everything to me, for writing a great song for Ash. And last but not least, to my husband, who is my anchor. Thank you for always being there. This one’s for you guys. I hope you enjoy it.
PROLOGUE
Vengeance.
Some say it’s a poison that infiltrates the soul and strips it bare. That its path only destroys the one who treads it.
But to others, it’s mother’s milk. It nourishes and thrives—gives them a reason to survive when they have nothing more to hold them to this world.
This is the story of one such creature. Born a god in the time before mankind even recorded his meager history, Sin, also called Nana, was the one who ruled the known universe. His pantheon was supreme and all around him paid homage.
And then the day came when other gods rose to challenge him. For centuries he fought the bloody war, and he would have been victorious had one act of treachery not robbed him of his godhood.
Stripped of his cabalistic powers, he was left to walk in the world of man as one of them, and as something else. Something dark. Cold. Lethal.
But the game isn’t over. Defeat does nothing but feed the part of the soul that demands a rematch. So long as there is life, there is hope. And so long as there is hope, there is determination.
And the need for vengeance that ever treads by the side of the defeated.
For centuries the ancient god bided his time, knowing that his enemy’s complacency and arrogance would bring her back into his circle.
Now the day of reckoning lies within his grasp.…
CHAPTER ONE
“
He
needs to be destroyed. My preference is painfully and quickly, but any means that ultimately results in his death will work.”
Acheron Parthenopaeus turned his head to see the Greek goddess Artemis approaching him. For centuries now the two of them had been tied together, and at times such as this the goddess actually believed she controlled him.
The truth, however, was very different.
Dressed only in black leather pants, he sat on the stone railing of her temple balcony with his back against one of the columns that lined it. The balcony was made of sparkling white marble that overlooked a breathtaking view of a rainbow waterfall and a perfect forest scene. But then one would expect no less on Mt. Olympus, where the Greek gods made their home.
If only the inhabitants were as perfect as the landscape.…
With flowing red hair, unblemished porcelain skin, and sharp green eyes, Artemis would be beautiful if Ash didn’t begrudge her every breath she drew.
“Why do you have such a burr up your ass all of a sudden where Sin’s concerned?”
She curled her lip at him. “I hate it when you talk like that.”
Which was exactly why he did it. May the gods forbid he ever do anything she liked. He had enough problems with
that
already. “You’re changing the subject.”
She huffed before she answered. “I’ve always hated him. He was supposed to die. Remember?
You
intervened.”
She was seriously oversimplifying that sequence of events. “He survived on his own. I merely gave the guy a job after you fucked him over.”
“Yes, and now he’s gone insane. Did you not see that he broke into a museum last night, knocked out three guards in the process, and stole a high-profile artifact? How is that not exposing your precious Dark-Hunters to public scrutiny? I swear he did it on purpose, hoping to get caught so that he could tell the humans about all of us. He’s a threat to everyone.”
Ash dismissed her anger even though he did agree it was a reckless move on Sin’s part. Usually the ancient ex-god had more sense. “I’m sure he just wanted to touch a piece of home. Hell, whatever artifact he took probably belonged to him or some member of his family. I’m not going to kill anyone because he was homesick, Artie—kind of like killing someone when he’s on the can. It’s just wrong.”
With her hands on her curvy hips, she glared at him. “So you’re going to dismiss it as trivial?”
“If by that you mean I don’t think it warrants his immediate execution. Call me crazy, but yeah, I’m dismissing it.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “You are going soft-ball.”
Ash frowned until he realized what she meant. “Soft, Artie. You meant to say I’m going soft.”
“Whatever.” She moved to stand beside him. “The Acheron I remember would have sizzled him for half the infraction.”
He released an agitated breath before he responded. “Fried, Artie, damn, learn to speak. I’ve got a headache from trying to figure out what the hell you mean most of the time. And at no time in my life would I have ever fried anyone for something like this.”
“Yes, you would have.”
He thought about that for a moment. But as usual she was wrong. “No. Definitely not. Only you would move me to that kind of violence over something so insignificant.”
“You’re such a bastard.”
At least she got that right, in more ways than one.
He leaned his head back against the column so that he could look up at her. “Why? Because I won’t do your bidding?”
“Yes. You owe me this. You made me get rid of my assassin and now I have no control over those creatures—”
“That
you
created,” he added, interrupting her angry tirade. “Don’t forget the important part here. The Dark-Hunters wouldn’t exist at all had someone, and for the sake of your missing intellect let me clarify that,
you
stole powers from me that could bring back the dead. I didn’t need the Dark-Hunters to help me fight against the Daimons and protect the humans. I was doing fine on my own. But you wouldn’t have it. You created them and made me responsible for their lives. It’s a responsibility that I take most seriously, so excuse me for banning you from killing them because you have reverse PMS.”
She scowled. “Reverse PMS?”
“Yeah, unlike a normal woman, you’re cranky twenty-eight days out of the month.”
She moved to slap him, but he caught her wrist in his hand. “You haven’t bargained for the right to hit me.”
She wrenched her arm away from him. “I want him dead.”
“I’m not your tool in this.” And lucky for Sin, Ash was here. He was the only reason Artemis didn’t kill Sin herself. They’d made the pact centuries ago, after she’d flambéd a Dark-Hunter for one erroneous comment, that she would never again go after a Dark-Hunter without Ash’s approval.
Her eyes were still seething. “Sin’s up to something. I can feel it.”
“Of that I have no doubt. He’s been plotting your murder since the day you stole his godhood from him. Lucky for you, I’m in the way and Sin knows it.”
She narrowed her eyes on him again. “I’m surprised you’re not helping him kill me.”
So was he. But in the end, he knew he couldn’t be a part of that. He needed Artemis in order to live, and if he were to die, the world would become an even scarier place than it already was.
Too bad that. ’Cause honestly, he wanted nothing more than to bid her ass goodbye and never look back.
Artemis shoved at his raised knee. “Aren’t you at least going to ask him why he was at the museum? And why he assaulted those officers?”
A sliver of hope went through him. “Are you going to let me leave to do it?”
“You owe me three more days of service.”
So much for hope. He should have known better. The bitch had no intention of letting him out of her temple until his two weeks were up. It’d been a bitter bargain he’d made with her. Two weeks as her pet sex slave for two months of freedom from her interference. He hated playing these games, but one did what one had to.
Even when it seriously sucked.
“Then it looks like it can wait.”
Artemis growled at him as she curled her hands into fists. Acheron was ever her bane. Why she put up with him she didn’t know.
Actually, she did. Even in his stubbornness, he was still the sexiest man she’d ever seen. There was nothing she enjoyed more than watching him move. Or even sit, as he was doing at present. He had the most viciously perfect body any man had ever possessed. His long blond hair was braided over one shoulder as he leaned back with his arms folded over his chest, and his left bare foot tapped in time to an imaginary beat only he could hear.
Powerful and bold, he only bent to her will when she forced him to it by blood and bone. And even then, he did so grudgingly and defiantly. He really was like a wild beast that no one could tame.
For that matter, he bit and snarled at anyone who tried to pet him.
And the gods knew she’d tried for centuries to either win him over or beat him into submission. But nothing worked. He was ever near and ever unattainable. It infuriated her.
She pouted at him. “You’d like for him to kill me, wouldn’t you?”
He let out a small laugh. “Hell, no. I want that honor myself.”
How dare he! “You wretched—”
“Don’t insult me, Artie,” he said, cutting her words off with an irritable tone, “when we both know you don’t mean it. I get really tired of the lip service.”
A shiver went over her at his choice of words. “Strange. I never tire of yours.” She reached to touch his lips. They were the only part of his body that was soft—like the petals of a rose—and she was ever fascinated by them. “You have the most beautiful mouth, Acheron, especially when it’s on my body.”
Ash groaned as he recognized the heat in her emerald eyes as she fingered his lips. It made his skin crawl. “Aren’t you ever satisfied? I swear if I were mortal, I’d be limping from our last go-round. If not dead. We really need to find you a hobby other than jumping on top of me.”