The Dark-Hunters (450 page)

He turned to leave.

But she wasn’t willing to let him go that easily. Angry over his dismissal, she spun him around and kissed him. “I love you, Sin. I just wanted you to know that.”

Sin was stunned by both her actions and her declaration. He couldn’t move. All he could see was the tender look on her face. The sincerity. But even so, he heard the laughter of his wife echoing in his head.
“You’re incompetent as a god, a lover, and a man.…”

The only thing he’d ever been good at had been killing. But Kat made him feel as if he had more skills than that. She made him feel as if he mattered. As if he had value.

And that shredded his resistance to her.

She laid her soft hand to his cheek. “We will win this and we will save your brother. I promise. I won’t ever let you down or hurt you again. I swear it by all that I am and all I hope to be. You
can
trust me, Sin.”

He swallowed as his emotions choked him. He wanted to turn and walk away from her, but he couldn’t. It was too late for that. “Don’t disappoint me, Kat. I don’t think I could recover from it if you did.”

Kat’s eyes teared as she heard those words from him. He didn’t say that he loved her, but it was a start. He hadn’t laughed at her or thrown her out.

He’d given her the promise of a relationship. A chance to rebuild the trust that had been broken. She couldn’t expect more than that.

“You have my word, Sin.”

He dipped his head down and gave her the lightest whisper of a kiss. Even so, it sent shivers over her and it fired her blood.

She buried her hand in his hair and held him close so that she could nuzzle her cheek against his. The scent of his skin made her hot and shivery. Her entire life had been spent wanting this kind of contact. He felt so good in her arms.

She didn’t want to be her mother. She didn’t want to miss him. To live her life with a memory of what they’d had and then to know she’d lost it all because of stupidity.

For the first time in her life, she had total clarity on Artemis’s relationship with her father. It was a tragedy she didn’t want to duplicate.

She rubbed a lock of Sin’s hair between her fingers as she realized just how much she really did love him. Not just his body, which was hot, but the man inside it. “We’re going to win this.”

“I can almost believe it when you say that.”

Stepping back, she smiled. “So what do we need to do?”

He took a deep breath before he answered. “One: Don’t die. Two: Don’t get bitten.”

She really hoped there was more to it than that. “And?”

“Kick their ass,” he said simply.

“Good plan. Little vague on the details.”

He gave her a wicked grin. “Isn’t it, though?”

She laughed at his mischievous demeanor. It would be infectious if their lives didn’t hang in the balance. “I’ve found that specifics aren’t necessarily a bad thing at times like this. Plans can actually be your friend.”

“Really? I’ve found a game plan usually gets in the way. Better to hang loose and improvise.”

She took his glass and drained it. “Hang loose, huh? Is that really want you’re going to do?”

Sighing, he stepped away from her, and his face fell to complete sobriety. “No. We have a time bomb in our hands and a lot to do. Step one—”

“Get your brother.”

He shook his head. “We have to get the Tablet first.”

“You’re willing to leave Zakar in their hands?”

He winced as if the mere thought cut him. “It’s not my first choice, but now that they know we can get to him, they’ll be guarding him a lot closer than before. And if they have the Tablet when we go for him…”

“They’ll kick
our
asses.”

“Exactly. We have to get the Tablet back. The question is how.”

Kat considered that for a minute. They couldn’t exactly waltz in there and demand it. They didn’t even know where it was. What they needed was an insider.

“Does Kessar have a weakness?” she asked.

“None that I know of.”

Why didn’t that surprise her? Simple. If he’d known of one before now, he no doubt would have used it. “Well, I might know someone who can find it. Hold that thought.”

He scowled at her. “Where are you going?”

“The Vanishing Isle. You stay here and rest and I’ll be right back.”

He actually appeared to be afraid for her. “You sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“Yeah. This I need to do alone.”

“Be careful.”

Warmed by his concern, Kat nodded before she tried to flash. She didn’t get far.

“It’s the Tablet,” Sin said as she let out a frustrated growl. “You’re still drained.”

She let out a fierce growl. “This is just a little inconvenient.”

Sin moved to stand behind her. She closed her eyes as she felt the heat of him radiate through her. There was something about him that never failed to warm her body. His scent, his presence, they filled her with desire and strength.

He placed his hands on her hips and bent his head so that he could whisper in her ear. As soon as the melodic Sumerian words started, she felt power radiating from his hands to her body. It sent a warm fissure up her spine to her scalp, where it tingled.

“What are you doing, Sin?”

“I’m loaning you what powers I can.”

His whispered words brought tears to her eyes and choked her. “You’re trusting me?”

His lips were so close to her cheek that they tickled her skin. “You asked for another chance. I’m trying my best to give it to you.”

Don’t fail me.

Even though he didn’t say those words, she could feel them in her heart. “I won’t fail you, Sin,” she whispered back to him an instant before their weakened powers united enough to flash her to the hall where Simi had taken Kytara. But Simi must have returned to Las Vegas, since she was nowhere to be seen.

Her raw emotions still churning, Kat paused in the corner to give herself a moment for composure. D’Alerian, M’Adoc, and M’Ordant stood with their backs to her. From this angle, the dream gods were almost identical in appearance. D’Alerian had long, straight black hair that hung just past his shoulders. M’Ordant’s black hair hung to his collar and was straight, while M’Adoc’s was the same length, only wavy. All three were dressed in black and speaking in low tones.

M’Ordant lifted his hand and covered Kytara’s body with a light silk sheet. “It’s disturbing to imagine a gallu with this kind of power. I thought we’d seen the last of those bastards centuries ago.”

D’Alerian shook his head. “Only on the human plane. Their gods were smart and hid them well from the rest of us.”

Kat cleared her throat to let them know they weren’t here alone. The three of them turned toward her with stern frowns that melted as soon as they realized it was her and not one of the other gods.

She closed the distance between them. “I’m sorry to eavesdrop.”

M’Adoc didn’t appear very forgiving of her actions. “Been there long?”

“No. I came in on the disturbing comment and concur with it.”

Unlike M’Adoc, D’Alerian’s expression was completely stoic. “So what brings you here, Katra? Does Artemis want us to haunt someone?”

That was normally her reason for disturbing them. “No. Not this time. I need to know if any of you have ever been in a gallu’s dreams? More important, has any Dream-Hunter been in Kessar’s?”

Still D’Alerian’s face showed no emotions whatsoever. “Why would an Oneroi—”

“Not Oneroi,” she said, interrupting him. “I’m not looking for someone who’d have been helpful or healing toward the gallu. I need a vicious Skotos. Someone who would know what Kessar is truly afraid of.”

They exchanged puzzled looks.

M’Adoc folded his arms over his chest. “There are only two who would fit that. Solin or Xypher.”

“Xypher,” the other two said in unison.

M’Ordant folded his arms over his chest. “Even though he’s vicious, Solin is too into women and sex. He doesn’t stir fear unless it’s to kick an Oneroi out of a dream.”

D’Alerian concurred. “Xypher is the one who thrives most on fear and always has. But he’s a complete renegade that not even we can rope in.”

Xypher sounded exactly like what Kat needed. “Great. Where is he?”

“Tartarus,” M’Adoc said coldly. “We were forced to kill him and now he’s spending eternity being punished for his crimes.”

Yeah, this was getting better by the minute. “You killed him?”

M’Adoc nodded. “Let me reiterate the part about him being a complete renegade. He is what made people afraid to go to sleep. But if there’s someone who’s going to know a way to scare a demon, he’s your god.”

“Sweet.” Kat put as much sarcasm into that single word as was possible. “Can’t wait to meet him. Would one of you care to send me over to Hades’ place?”

M’Adoc scowled. “Can’t you go yourself?”

“I’m a little low on juice at the moment and would deeply appreciate a small hand.”

D’Alerian snapped his fingers, and an instant later she found herself in one of the last places she wanted to be. The Underworld. It was a special kind of spooky. The kind that went down your spine like an ice cube and left you wanting to look over your shoulder to see what might be stalking you for dinner. There were all kinds of unsavory beings who called this place home.

But it wasn’t all bad. The Elysian Fields were actually nice. They were the paradise where decent souls were sent to live out eternity in total happiness. If only Xypher were there. Instead, he was in the worst place of all. Tartarus. It was where the evil were sent to be punished. There was no light here. No laughter. Nothing pretty or nice.

It was dark and pain-filled. The entire area was lined with caverns and holding cells where screams of agony echoed, begging for mercy. The occupants were seldom in a state to be recognized by even their own mothers, and the caverns were laid out like an intricate labyrinth.

Without help, Kat would never be able to find Xypher.

“Eris!” she called, summoning the goddess of discord—her less than favorite friend. The last time the two of them had been together, they’d ended up in a bolt war that had ended only when Zeus had intervened and sent them both to their rooms for a solid decade.

Eris appeared before her in a pique. Dressed in a sheer black gown, Eris was as pale as a ghost. Her black hair was swept up toward the crown of her head, where curls cascaded down to fall all the way to her hips. As beautiful as Aphrodite, Eris was the most evil of any god. “You rang, bitchtress?”

Kat took a deep breath to keep from answering that insult. As a goddess of discord, it was always Eris’s nature to pick a fight. “I need to find an inmate here and you’re the one I’m sure who can lead me straight to him.”

She arched a brow. “Really? What makes you think that?”

Kat looked around the dismal place. “The fact that I know how much you love to torture people. Any time Ares is bedding someone, I know you come here to play.”

Lifting her chin defiantly, Eris narrowed her gaze. “And who told you that? Persephone?”

“It doesn’t matter who told me. The point is I need your help.”

“And what will you give me for that?”

I won’t kick your ass.
If only she could say that out loud. “Hmm … I guess what I’ll do is continue to keep the secret that you’re the one who told Zeus about Hera’s affair with that cover model in New York last fall.”

Eris’s face paled as all smugness left her features. “How do you know that?”

“Unlike you, I have friends all over the place who love to gossip. Now are you going to help me?”

Eris’s nostrils flared. “You know—”

Kat put her hand up. “Don’t even waste your time threatening me. You do anything to irritate me and I’ll make you eat that golden apple you love to throw at people. Now show me where the former Skotos Xypher is kept.”

A mischievous glint came to her dark eyes. “You do like to live dangerously, don’t you? But to be fair, I should warn you that he’s an animal.”

“Goody … now lead me to him.”

Eris smirked before they vanished. When Kat could see again, she was inside a small cavern. She couldn’t see much, but she could hear the constant sound of something in motion. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was.

At least not until Eris snapped her fingers and light appeared.

Kat cringed as she saw a man on the floor whose entire back was covered with bloody welts. The noise she’d heard was of a whip that was wielded by a skeleton who stood over him beating him constantly.

Growling, he rolled over and grabbed the whip only to have it disintegrate in his hand. Another one appeared in the hand of the skeleton, who continued with the lashes.

Eris made a clicking noise with her teeth. “Here, little Xypher … want to play with Cousin Eris?”

“Fuck you, bitch.”

“Oooo,” Eris said, wrinkling her nose, “feeling spry this morning, are we? Should I join the fun?”

“Eris,” Kat said quickly. “Leave us alone.”

Eris gave her a pout before she vanished.

Kat stepped forward as Xypher tried to grab the whip again, only to have the same thing happen. She could see and feel the frustration from him, the pain. Every lash cut through his body. But he didn’t cry out.

Closing her eyes, she summoned as much of her powers as she could. The
sfora
heated on her chest as she wished the skeleton out of the chambers.

To her amazement, it worked.

Dressed only in a pair of black leather pants, Xypher lifted his head to look over his shoulder. He turned to her with an angry glare. That glare lacerated her with its hatred as he rose slowly to his feet. “Bring it on, bitch.”

His anger baffled her. “Bring on what?”

“Whatever torture you’ve got planned. I’m ready.”

She felt bad for him that he would expect nothing else from a visitor. “I’m not here to punish you.”

“Sure you’re not.…”

“Really. I’m not.”

“Then what are you here for? Fun and games?”

“Information.”

He laughed cruelly. “Since I’ve been stuck for centuries in this hole, I find that hard to believe. I don’t even know what year it is, so what information could I possibly have that would be of any use to you?”