The Dark-Hunters (446 page)

The demon ran into a side street, dragging a young woman behind it.

All of a sudden, the demon stopped as if it’d run into something invisible. Sin pulled the woman from the demon’s arms and kicked it back. He handed the woman off to Kat, then turned to fight the demon as the woman collapsed against her.

Just as the demon reached Sin, it burst into flames.

Kat gasped.

Deimos stepped out from the shadows. “They are filthy bastards, aren’t they?”

Sin tensed, waiting for Deimos to attack him. Honestly, he was getting a little sick of it. But to his utter consternation, the Dolophonos looked past him to the woman who was sobbing hysterically against Kat.

“Is she all right?” Deimos asked.

“Shaken, but she doesn’t appear to have been hurt. I think Sin got to her in time.”

Deimos stepped around Sin and placed his hand on the woman’s head. She fell back, unconscious. He caught her against him, then gently laid her down on the sidewalk as her mother came running over to them.

“Crystal?”

“She’s fine,” Deimos said quietly. He looked over at Sin. “He saved her.”

Tears of gratitude were flowing down the mother’s face as she looked at Sin. “Thank you. Thank you both. I don’t know what he would have done to her had you not helped us.”

Deimos nodded, then he placed his hand on her head to erase her memories of them. Like her daughter, she collapsed, and Deimos placed her carefully on the ground.

He looked at them over his shoulder. “We have exactly one minute before they come to again. They’ll think it was a mugger who left them and ran.”

Sin eyed him suspiciously. “We’re not going to finish our fight?”

Deimos shook his head. “Contrary to public opinion, neither the Erinyes nor the Dolophoni are the lapdogs of the Greek pantheon. I don’t follow orders unless I see a reason to. I was willing to kill you only because you desecrated human remains and didn’t appear rational. Now I’m willing to spare you because you chose the welfare of an innocent human over your own.…” He glanced to Kat before he spoke again. “And over that of someone you care for. In my book, that makes you worth forgiving.”

Sin was still stunned by his turnaround. It didn’t seem logical. “So you’re bowing out of this?”

Deimos scoffed. “‘Bowing out’ implies a chivalry I lack. Let’s just say, lucky for you, I didn’t find what I needed to. The Dolophoni only kill for a reason, and that reason has to be justified to Themis or we’re executed.” He wiped at the blood on his neck that was left by the cord Sin had used to choke him. “Killing you isn’t worth my life. But you still have an enemy who wants you dead. Watch your back.”

Kat smiled at him. “Thank you, Deimos.”

“Don’t thank me, Katra. I didn’t do a favor here. I just did my job.” He faded into the darkness.

Sin gave her an arch look as the mother and daughter began stirring.

Kat held her hand to her lips to silence him before she flashed them back to his casino where they’d left the gallu bodies.

Damien was there with a questioning look. “You’re still alive. Good. Any chance you want to help clean up the mess?”

Sin gave him a wry glare. “That’s why I pay you the big bucks, Damien.”

“Thought so, boss. Just checking.” Damien’s smile faded as he turned away from them and started mumbling under his breath.

Kat had a feeling it wasn’t complimentary to Sin. “I can’t believe Deimos is off your tail. I have to say I’ve found a new respect for him. I really, truly thought you were dead when he appeared.”

“As I recall, he was the one about to die. Maybe I scared him off.”

She laughed. “There is that. Seriously, though, he doesn’t scare that easily and I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t allowed you to pin him as a test to see what you’d do. It’s not like him to give up a death hunt.”

“You think he was lying then?”

“No,” she answered honestly. “He’s the son of Alecto. She’s the Erinys in charge of unceasing anger, and his mother’s fury, pardon the pun, runs thick in his veins. But in addition to that, the Furies are also called the Eumenides—the kind ones. They are vindictive but fair. Like Deimos said, I think you proved yourself to him.”

“Good,” he breathed. “That’s one noose off my neck. How many are left?”

She thought about that for a minute. “Counting your brother … couple of dozen. At least.”

He looked less than amused. “Thanks for the reminder.” But even though his response was sarcastic, she still had a feeling he wasn’t as irritated as he pretended.

“Sorry.”

He rubbed at his eyes as if he were exhausted. At least for a couple of seconds. Then he suddenly paused. “Where are the demons?”

“I think you killed them all.”

“Not mine. Yours. The Charontes. Where have they vanished?”

Oh, that was a good question. In all the chaos, she’d forgotten them. “Hopefully not eating someone.”

Terrified, they both flashed up to the room where Simi and Xirena were staying. It took a second for Kat’s eyes to adjust to the darkness.

When they did, Kat had to stifle a laugh as she saw the two of them lying asleep, looking like spontaneous crash victims. Simi’s legs were propped up on the wall and her body twisted while her head and one arm were draped over the side of the bed, toward the floor. Xirena was facedown with the top of her head on the floor while her body was spread diagonally across the bed. Her wings covered her like a blanket.

Scowling, Sin angled his head as if trying to match their twisted positions. “How do they sleep upside down like that? Wouldn’t all the blood rush to your head and hurt?”

“I have no idea,” she whispered, pushing him back toward the door. “But let’s let them sleep.”

He walked through the door, literally, without opening it and pulled her through behind him. A shiver went over her at his actions. “That was eerie.”

“Yeah, but you have to admit it’s kind of fun. I used to do it on Halloween to scare kids.”

Kat laughed at the devilish look on his handsome face. “You’re awful.”

“Never claimed to be otherwise.” He opened the door to his penthouse and allowed her to enter first.

She could sense his exhaustion and his concern for his brother as Sin joined her inside and closed the door behind them. “He’ll turn up.”

“Yeah, but how? I have a really bad feeling about this, Katra. Did I make a mistake by freeing him?”

She reached up to cup his face in her head so that she could soothe some of the guilt she felt from him. “Oh, Sin, you know better. There was no way you could have left him there, like that.”

Those beautiful golden eyes were tormented. “I know. But…”

“Don’t think about it,” she whispered, giving him a light kiss on his whiskered cheek.

Sin nodded as she withdrew from him. He still felt terrible. A feeling that wasn’t helped as he saw Kat put her hand to her head as if there was a sharp pain behind her left eye. “You all right?”

“Mmm, my head really hurts all of a sudden.”

“You want some aspirin?”

With only her right eye open, she gave him a winsome smile. “Wish that would work. No. I think I just need to lie down for a sec.”

Wondering what could be wrong with her, he took her to his bedroom and helped her into bed. “Is it any better?”

“No. I feel really sick.”

He grabbed the plastic trash can from the floor and held it up for her.

Kat groaned as she saw it. “You know nothing says love like a man holding a bucket, waiting for you to hurl into it.”

“No offense, you start hurling and I’m going to be needed immediately downstairs in the casino … I guarantee it.”

She glared at him with only her one eye open. “That’s not very romantic.”

He scoffed at her aggravated tone. “Excuse me? Did I miss something? What has
ever
been romantic about vomit?”

“A man standing by your side when you’re sick. Holding your hair back from your face … that’s romantic.”

“In what alternate universe do you live? Here in a place I like to call reality, that’s disgusting. Who in their right mind would find that romantic?”

She managed to open both eyes to pin him with a less than complimentary snarl. “So you’d just leave me here alone to be ill?”

“I didn’t say that,” he said, trying to defend himself. “I’d have Damien come check on you.”

She curled her lip at him and pushed him away from her. “Just go. Get out of here.”

Sin didn’t budge from the bed. “I can stay. You’re not regurgitating at the moment.”

She dry heaved and he actually inched toward the door. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you? That wasn’t real.”

She leaned back on the bed and closed her eyes again. “I can’t believe what a baby you are.”

“Me? Like you’d stand over me if I were hurling? Give me a break.”

“I might.”

He didn’t believe that for an instant. “Yeah, uh-huh. Let me go get ripped and put that theory to the test.”

She pulled a pillow to her stomach. “You’re awful.”

“I’m honest. Trust me, no one ever comes to check on someone when they’re ill.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. You’re a Dark-Hunter. You can’t get sick or drunk.”

That wasn’t true by a long shot, and he’d had the hangovers to prove it. “I’m an ex-god your father gave a job to. I can, and have, been both many times.”

Kat opened her eyes again to frown at him. “You’ve been ill?”

“Yes. Apparently, I lost whatever common cold and flu immunity I had when your mother sucked my powers out of me.”

“And Damien or Kish didn’t come help?”

“They’ll bring food. That’s about it.”

Her heart ached for him. “I’m sorry, Sin. No one should be sick alone.”

“Yeah, well, we all muddle through, don’t we?”

Kat supposed. But it seemed terribly harsh and a wave of guilt went through her. No one should suffer without having someone to take care of them. It broke her heart to think of Sin in this bed with no one to check his temperature.

She tried to reach for him, but suddenly the entire room spun and she started to fall from the bed.

Sin caught her against him and cursed as he felt the heat coming off her body. She was on fire. “Kat?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she made a strange gurgling noise.

“Kat? Are you all right? Speak to me!”

“She can’t.”

He looked to see Zakar in the doorway. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Out,” he said with a hostile note in his voice.

“Out where?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “You’ve got bigger things to worry over than my previous whereabouts.”

“Such as?”

Zakar jerked his chin toward Kat. “Your girlfriend must have been bitten by one of the gallu. What she’s doing right now is converting into one of them.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sin
couldn’t breathe as his brother’s harsh words rang in his ears. He looked down at Kat on his bed, and while she might be burning with a fever, there was no sign of her changing over into a demon. “What do you mean, she’s converting? She wasn’t bitten.”

Zakar indicated her with his hand. “Trust me. I know the symptoms. She’s becoming one of them.”

Sin cradled her against his chest. Even though she was unconscious, her eyes were half-open. Her body was completely limp. Her features were as beautiful as ever. Calm. Serene.

She wasn’t becoming a demon. He refused to believe it. There was no sign of her teeth changing. Of her hands deforming. She looked as she always did.

His brother was wrong. “She’s just sick.”

Zakar laughed at him. “An immortal goddess, sick? Have you lost your mind?”

“I get sick,” he said defensively. “It’s possible she gets sick, too.”

“Do you really believe that?”

No, but he wanted to, desperately. He honestly couldn’t cope with the thought of her becoming a demon he’d have to kill.

Sin tightened his grip on her, afraid Zakar might be right. “What can I do?”

“Kill her.”

“Bullshit!”

There was no mercy in Zakar’s eyes as he watched Sin. “You know what I know. There’s no cure for this. There’s no way back. Once the conversion starts, it’s over for the victim. All you can do is put her out of her misery.”

Still, he denied it. The thought of killing Kat …

He couldn’t bear it. In only a short time, she’d come to mean way too much to him. “You’re immune to the demon venom.”

“Am I?”

A cold chill went down Sin’s spine. “Zakar…”

Zakar laughed. “You were a fool to come for me, Nana.” He leapt across the bed at him.

Releasing Kat to fall back on the mattress, Sin caught him, and they slammed into the wall. Zakar looked normal, except for the single set of fangs in his mouth. A tremor of anger went through Sin. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m your brother.”

“No, you’re not.” He slugged his fist into Zakar’s jaw, knocking him to the floor. This wasn’t Zakar; this was something else entirely.

“Kytara!” Sin shouted. “If you can hear me, get your ass here now.”

As Zakar stood up slowly and wiped the blood from his lips, he tsked at Sin. “How pathetically weak you’ve grown that you now have to call for backup from a woman.”

Sin raked his brother with a sneer. “She’s not my backup. She’s your babysitter.” He blasted Zakar with a god-bolt.

And he didn’t let up.

Zakar tried to run, but he couldn’t. Every time he tried to stand, the blast would knock him back to the floor. With Zakar squirming in a corner, Sin kept him pinned until Kytara showed herself in the room.

She actually looked excited as she saw him frying his brother. “Good man. Kill the bastard.”

But Sin didn’t kill him. He couldn’t do that to his own twin—he could only beat the shit out of him, and that only when Zakar deserved it.

As soon as Zakar was unconscious, Sin stopped pounding him with the bolts. He knelt by Zakar, who was slumped on the floor, and double-checked his pulse. It was strong and frantic against Sin’s fingertips.

Satisfied that his brother would live, Sin laid him down more comfortably on the floor and covered him with a blanket. Sin looked up at Kytara, who was standing next to his bed. “What do you know about gallu conversions?”