The Dark-Hunters (449 page)

She wiped at the tear on her face. “That really doesn’t make me feel any better, since I’m the one who ruined it.”

Ash pulled her against him so that he could hold her and soothe some of the pain she felt over this. “You know the incredible thing about hearts is their unbelievable capacity for forgiveness. You’d be amazed what people will overlook when they love someone.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head under his chin. “Do you forgive Nick for sleeping with Simi?”

Ash ignored the razor-sharp pain that one question evoked. He still didn’t like it, but he’d put the matter behind him. “I have.”

“But he hasn’t forgiven you.”

No. He wasn’t sure if Nick would ever get over the death of his mother. But honestly, Ash would rather Nick blame him than try to live with the guilt of his own part in her death. God help the man if Nick ever took that responsibility on his own shoulders. It would kill him.

“I can’t control Nick’s feelings.”

She swallowed before she spoke again. Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper. “And what about Mom? Have you forgiven her for what she’s done to you?”

Ash drew his breath in sharply at that one. That question hit him in an extremely raw spot. “That’s a little more complicated, Katra. We’re not talking one single mistake to forgive. Every time I think we’re past one betrayal, I learn of another she’s committed … like hiding you from me.”

She pulled back to look up at him. “But you do love her, don’t you?”

Ash didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

“Dad?”

He offered her a smile he didn’t feel. “I can’t answer a question I don’t know the answer to. You can’t hate to the extreme I do without having loved someone first. When all that hatred is shoved aside, is there any love left? I honestly don’t know.”

He brushed the hair back from her face and cupped her cheeks in his hands. He wanted to give her the gift he wished someone had given to her mother. Katra needed to understand the crossroad where she was standing right now.

“But I do know this, Katra: the first betrayal, even as severe as it was, could have been forgiven had your mother just apologized and meant it. Had she come to me and promised that she’d never hurt me again, I would have laid my life down for her. Instead she let her pride get in the way. She was more focused on punishing me for her imagined embarrassment than she was on the future we could have had together.”

Kat frowned at him. “What are you saying?”

“I saw Sin, Katra, when he came to me, begging for your life. People don’t do that when they don’t care. It’s not too late yet. He can forgive you this.”

“But his past—”

“Is one that hurts and that’s why this cut him so deeply. But because of that hurt, he needs you even more.”

Kat held her breath as her father told her what she needed to hear. But she wasn’t sure she could believe it. “Are you sure?”

“Trust me, baby. Everyone wants someone they can hold and love. Someone who will be there to help pick up the pieces when everything falls apart. Sin is no different from anyone else.”

Tears stung her eyes as she realized he spoke from the depth of his own pain. He was trying to help her, to spare her the centuries of agony that he’d known. “I love you, Dad.”

He took her hand in his and laid a tender kiss to her cheek. “If you have any care for Sin at all, don’t leave him in darkness. It’s not fair to show someone the sun and then to banish him from it. Even the devil may cry when he looks around hell and realizes that he’s there alone.”

She nodded and squeezed his hand. “I hear you, Dad. I just hope Sin will listen.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “If he doesn’t, you know where Artemis keeps her nets.”

Kat sucked her breath in sharply. “I don’t think that would endear me to him.”

“No, but it would keep him in place.”

Laughing, she let go and stepped back. “I’m going to try this.”

“No, baby. Trying is for fools.” His gaze bore into hers. “You’re going to succeed.”

She smiled at his confidence and his wisdom. “Wish me luck.”

“Better than that. I wish you happiness.”

Love for him warmed her as she nodded and flashed herself from Olympus back to Sin’s penthouse.

The minute she popped in, something slammed into her. Kat gasped as she hit the floor. She shifted, trying to move the weight off her.

It was then she realized what the weight was.

Sin, and he was bleeding profusely.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kat
tried to crawl out from under Sin, but he wouldn’t let her. “Stay down,” he growled in her ear before he rolled away and stood up to confront whatever had knocked him into her.

I should probably listen.…

But that just wasn’t who she was. So she pushed herself up, then wished she’d listened to him after all.

Kessar was in the room with six other demons. That alone made her blood run cold. Yet it wasn’t the only bad news. They had Zakar in chains again, and the worst was Kytara, who lay dead a few feet from her.

Her eyes misting, Kat stared in horror at her friend’s lifeless body. It looked as if they’d tried to literally tear Kytara apart. The sight and grief made Kat sick to her stomach. How could they have done such a thing?

Sin was on his feet, trying to fight the demons—“trying” being the operative word. It was obvious something was wrong with his powers.

Infuriated over what they’d done, Kat tried to blast Kessar and then realized exactly what had happened to Sin. She had no powers, either. Something was negating them.

“He has the Tablet,” Sin said from between clenched teeth as he slung one demon into another.

Well, that explained it, but it didn’t help. The Tablet was sucking their powers out of them. Oh, fabulous. No wonder the demons had been able to take Zakar and kill Kytara.

Kessar laughed before he headed toward Kat with a deadly intent.

To her shock, Sin put himself between them. Kessar swung at Sin, who jumped back and struck him a fierce blow in the chest. It didn’t faze Kessar as he kicked Sin so hard, it lifted him off his feet.

“Simi!” Kat shouted at the top of her lungs. It was time to put a stop to this.

Simi and Xirena instantly appeared. “What?” Simi asked; then she saw the demons.

Both she and Xirena exploded into demon form. Kat stumbled back … it was the first time she’d ever seen the whole of Simi’s true form. Her skin was a deep bloody red with black lips, hair, wings, and claws. She wrapped herself around the nearest demon and ripped his throat out.

Kat turned away from the awful sight.

Kessar pointed the Tablet at Simi before he spoke in Sumerian.

Xirena laughed. “We’re not gods, you moron. We’re demons, and that has no effect on us.” She flew at him.

He dodged, grabbed the chains holding Zakar, and vanished with him.

“No!” Sin shouted, trying to catch them before they vanished, but he was too late.

And he had no powers to follow.

Kat felt the grief she saw on his face as he turned to look at her while Simi and Xirena finished off the demons they were “eating.” She’d never seen any man look more stricken.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

There was no forgiveness in his expression at all as he stalked toward her. His eyes were filled with utter agony. “You keep saying that.”

“But I’m sincere.”

He raked her with a sneer. “Sincerity doesn’t fix any of this, now does it?”

No, it didn’t, and it didn’t bring back Kytara’s life. How the hell had they managed to kill her? It didn’t make sense. “What happened?”

He let out a tired breath as he wiped the blood from a cut over his left eye. “When I came back, Kessar had Zakar in chains and was holding the Tablet in his hand.” He gestured toward Kytara. “He must have used the Tablet to drain her. She was already dead when I arrived.”

“How did he get his hands on the Tablet?”

“Damned if I know. I had it locked in the safe in my bedroom.”

This was awful. Kat covered her eyes as guilt and pain settled deep in her soul. This was all her fault. All of it.

If not for her, Sin would still have his god powers and there would be no danger to the world.

Kytara would still be alive.…

How could she even begin to make this right? Everything was falling apart because she’d made a really bad decision centuries ago. Her heart sank to her stomach as she tried to imagine the coming attack from the Dimme. “We’re doomed, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice thick. “We are. If you have any last wishes to accomplish before total annihilation hits, I suggest you get started.”

Still in demon form, Simi approached them with an ecstatic gleam in her eyes. “Can I eat the bitch-goddess?”

Kat sighed in resignation. “I’m afraid the only bitch-goddess around right now would be me.”

Simi shook her head. “
Akra
-Kat isn’t a bitch. You’re always nice to the Simi.”

“But I wasn’t nice to Sin.” She walked slowly toward him, wanting him to understand the depth of her sorrow and guilt. “I know you don’t believe me, but I am sorry about all this. More than you’ll ever know.”

His expression was cold. “I appreciate the thought, but it doesn’t really change anything, does it?” He walked over to Kytara and closed her eyes, then he covered her with a blanket. “You should probably take her body home to Olympus. It’s the least we can do.”

Kat was confused. “We don’t have to burn her?”

He shook his head. “No. They just killed her. There’s no bite marks on her that I could see. Guess they didn’t want to convert her over.”

Kat couldn’t imagine that, since Kessar and crew seemed intent on converting as many people as they could. Surely a dream god would have been a big boon for them. But then, nothing the demon did made sense.

How had all this gotten so out of hand?

Sighing, she frowned as she saw Simi and Xirena changing back into their more human forms. “Why didn’t you call for Simi and Xirena when you saw them?”

He gave her a cold glare. “Well, gee, since I popped in here in the middle of a fight and I was trying to save my brother and had hoped Kytara was only wounded and not dead, I really didn’t think about them. Sorry I was so self-absorbed in staying alive that I forgot about the demons down the hall.”

Kat had to bite back an equally caustic retort. He was hurting and she knew it. This wasn’t easy on either one of them, and more sarcasm wouldn’t accomplish anything more than to further alienate him from her. “Are our powers gone for good?”

“No. Not unless they have a conduit”—he gave her a meaningful sneer—“to drain you. Our powers will be back. Personally I think the prick is just playing with us.”

Kat didn’t believe that. “No, he was honestly afraid of Simi and Xirena.”

“That’s because they can rip his heart out and, as we learned, they’re immune to the Tablet.”

“Which gives us an advantage.”

“As long as their numbers are small, yes. But the minute they open the doorway and let the whole demon clan out to party, our demons are dead.”

Xirena’s eyes widened. “Um, I don’t like dead. Dead is bad.”

Simi nodded in agreement. “
Akri
would be really sad if his Simi died. The Simi wouldn’t be happy about it, either.”

“And neither would I,” Kat assured them. “Don’t worry. We won’t let them eat you.”

Sin folded up the couch. By his demeanor, she could tell he was trying to think of a solution. Finally, he met her gaze. “Any chance Grandma will let more demons out of her sight?”

“I don’t know. Too many Charontes out of Kalosis without Apollymi here to rein them in would be like too many gallu set free. I think we’d just be changing the face of human annihilation.”

“Of course it would,” Sin growled. “Now they have the Moon, they have the Tablet that I found for them, and we have no powers so long as they hold it. If we attack, they drain us. I should just shoot myself and end my suffering before they turn me into one of them.”

Kat rolled her eyes at his melodramatic tirade. “Don’t go Socrates yet. It’s not over until they let loose the Dimme, right?”

He snorted. “Excuse me if I’m not feeling really upbeat and hopeful at the moment. After all, the one person I thought I could trust is the one who fucked me the hardest.”

Kat had to clench her hand to keep from slapping him. Her first instinct was to give tit for tat. But as she opened her mouth to let him have it, she remembered Acheron’s words.

“But I do know this, Katra: the first betrayal, even as severe as it was, could have been forgiven had your mother just apologized and meant it. Had she come to me and promised that she’d never hurt me again, I would have laid my life down for her. Instead she let her pride get in the way. She was more focused on punishing me for her imagined embarrassment than she was on the future we could have had together.”

Those words quelled her tongue. She didn’t want to make the same mistake her mother had made. She’d wronged Sin and they both knew it.

Taking a deep breath for patience, she turned toward Simi. “Simi?” she said quietly. “Will you please take Kytara’s body home to Olympus? Give her to M’Adoc.”

Simi nodded as she came forward to hug her. “Don’t be so sad,
akra
-Kat. We’ll eat all them gallu demons and make it all right. You’ll see.”

Kat smiled at the two demons. “I know you will, Simi. Thank you.”

As Simi went to pick up Kytara from the floor, Xirena looked a bit awkward, as if she wasn’t sure what she should do. “I’ll wait in our room.” Xirena vanished an instant before Simi did.

Sin headed for the bar to pour himself a drink. “You might as well join them. No need in staying around here.”

Kat followed him behind the counter. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

He slammed a glass down on the counter so hard she was surprised it didn’t shatter. “Don’t push me, Kat. My anger at you right now is only surpassed by my desire to kill Kessar. Since I can’t lay hands on him, you might prove a worthy substitution.” He poured the glass full.

“And I want you to understand the depth of my sorrow over what I did to you and your family. If I could put a hair shirt on to make amends, I would. I wish by all the gods I’ve ever met or even heard of that I could go back and return your powers to you. You deserve them. But I can’t do that.”