The Dark-Hunters (492 page)

Jesse laughed. “See, this is where you’d say something like, none of your damned business. But unlike you, I’m nicer than that.”

Xypher narrowed his eyes.

An instant later, Jesse tripped as if someone had shoved him from behind.

He caught himself and turned to glare at Xypher. “Hey, Vader, keep your Jedi mind tricks to yourself. That hurt!”

“Yeah, and next time it’ll hurt a lot worse. Now, how did you end up being the personal nuisance for Simone?”

“It was the night my mother and brother were killed,” Simone said, her voice betraying a subtle note of sadness. “I was in the hospital, waiting for my dad to arrive, when Jesse came to me and told me not to cry.”

Xypher hated to admit it, but it was a nice thing for Jesse to do. “How did they die? Car wreck?”

She shook her head before she wrapped her arms around herself as if to provide comfort or protection from the bad memory. “It was a robbery gone bad. We were coming back from a school play and Tony wanted one of those stupid candy ring pops for a treat. My mother pulled in to a convenience store to humor him. Since I was sleepy and didn’t feel good, I stayed in the car while they went in. When they didn’t come right back, I lifted myself up in the backseat to see what was taking so long. As soon as I did, I saw two men gunning them down by the counter. I was so scared, all I could do was cover my ears and crawl down behind the front seat to hide. The police found me there a few minutes later when they came. They had to take the seats out to get to me.”

Xypher felt like shit. There was no other description. He saw the tears in her eyes and it made him angry that someone would do that to her.

When her gaze met his, the agony in those hazel eyes tore through him like a dagger. “Tony was only seven years old. How could someone open fire on a baby with his mother?”

Xypher looked away, unable to bear the pain and scrutiny he saw in her eyes. “I don’t know.”

“You’re part demon. Can’t you give me some insight into such evil?”

“No. As corrupt as I’ve been, I’ve never hurt a child and I never would.”

Shifting the bags to one hand, Xypher pulled her to a stop. He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure how. What did humans do for comfort?

Touch?

He reached out to place his hand on her cold, soft cheek. “I’m sorry for your loss, Simone.” What surprised him most was that he actually meant it. He really did care.

Simone saw the hesitancy in Xypher’s eyes. The uncertainty. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was afraid of touching her. She placed her hand over his and gave a light squeeze. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head before he dropped his hand. “I didn’t offend you by touching you, did I?”

“No.”

Jesse made an odd choking noise. “Yeah, but you’re both offending me with all this lovey-dovey crap. Get a room. No wait, don’t. Separate rooms. Both of you!”

Simone shook her head. “Jesse, stop.”

Jesse ignored her as he ran ahead. “Oh, look, we’re home. Goody!”

Xypher stepped back as Simone pulled a set of keys out of her pants pocket. She stopped in front of a green steel door that opened into a short, narrow alley before it led to a large courtyard.

She swung the door open and stood back. “Jesse, lead the way while I lock up.”

Xypher followed the ghost into the immaculate courtyard that held a couple of stainless steel barbecue grills and a black fountain.

“My condo is straight back.” She passed by them and went to a brown door with the number 23 on it.

Xypher followed her into a small living room. The building was old, but her furniture was new. Decorated in tans and browns the apartment was neatly kept with nothing out of place.

She indicated the back of the house. “There are two bedrooms. Jesse? Will you sleep on the couch?”

He looked horrified by the mere suggestion. “No way! You’re not giving him my room, are you?”

“You don’t really sleep…”

“Well, yeah, but what if I get bored in the middle of the night?”

“You can haunt around the kitchen and living room.”

He let out an aggravated squeak. “You make me do that and I’m going to stack furniture and reset your alarm clock.”

“And I’ll find an exorcist.”

Jesse narrowed his gaze on her. “That would only work on a demon.” He sent a pointed stare to Xypher.

“A psychic, then. I’ll go to Madame Selene’s shop in the Square and have her use a banishing spell on you.”

“Oh, you would,” Jesse accused. “Fine. Grump can sleep in my room, but he better not drool on my pillows. Or sleep naked. The last thing I need is to go blind from it.”

“I don’t drool.”

Jesse appeared pleased by that. “Good. What about the naked part?”

“You’re not my type, Jesse.”

Jesse screamed before he took off running to the back of the house.

Simone rolled her eyes at Jesse’s antics. He could be aggravating, but honestly, she couldn’t imagine her life without him.

She pulled her coat off and hung it up, then waited for Xypher to do the same.

Once they were down to their shirts and jeans, she indicated the back of her condo with a tilt of her head. “Follow me and I’ll show you the way.” She led him toward the back and through the kitchen to where there were two bedrooms. “I’m on the right. Your temporary room is the one on the left.”

There was a bathroom between them.

Xypher paused as he took in the small place she called home. It was nice and comfortable. Not overly posh, but the perfect size for a woman who lived alone … with a ghost.

She took him into Jesse’s room which was painted blue. Xypher was fine with that, but there were posters of bands and movies from the 1980s plastered all over the walls.
Lost Boys.
Joan Jett.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The Damned. Flash Dance.
Wendy O. Williams.
The Terminator.
The Clash. Go-Go’s. Bananarama. It was like a strange time capsule.

Three wooden crates designed for vinyl albums were stacked against the far wall and filled with LPs. On top was an old Pioneer stereo with a turntable. The dresser was scattered with odds and ends, including a Rubik’s Cube, multisided dice, and Atari cartridges. It looked like a teenager’s bedroom from 1987.

Xypher took a minute to let that seep into his consciousness. Most people who had a ghost force itself into their life wouldn’t go to this much effort to make it feel at home. There was even an antiquated Apple computer on the desk by the crates, and an Atari hooked up to the TV.

“You love Jesse.” It was an obvious statement given the room they were in.

“I do.” Her eyes shone with sincerity and truth. “He stayed and looked out for me after my family was gone. He was like a big brother…” She tilted her head and smiled before she continued. “Now he’s more like a younger one. But there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”

How he wished he had that kind of loyalty from someone. His problem was there was nothing anyone would do
for
him.

“You can put your clothes in here.” She opened an empty drawer in the bureau.

Xypher set the bags down on the floor. “You know, this might not work.”

“How so?”

“Your bedroom might be too far from this one. We may not be able to separate.”

She sucked her breath in sharply. “I’d already forgotten about that stipulation. How will we know?”

Xypher stood back. “Start walking. When you hit a spot where you’re gasping for breath, that should tell us our limitations.”

“Oh, joy. I can’t wait to be the guppy.”

“Glub, glub, little fishy. Start walking.”

Simone wasn’t sure about this as she headed for the door, slowly. She walked through the doorway, into the hall. After a few steps, she was less afraid.

So far so good.

“This doesn’t seem…” Her voice broke off as she choked. All of a sudden, she couldn’t speak or move. Everything around her was getting dark. Frightening.

Out of nowhere, Xypher was there. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her bedroom and laid her on her bed. His face was red as he, too, struggled to breathe.

It took her several minutes before she could breathe normally again. Xypher stayed by her side, watching her with an expression that she would have called worried if the very idea of his concern for her wasn’t ludicrous.

“That was scary,” she said quietly once she could speak again. “How did you make it to me when you couldn’t breathe, either?”

“Raw determination.”

She placed her hand on his cheek where his whiskers teased her palm. How could a demon have moments of kindness and compassion? “Thank you.”

He inclined his head to her. “Now we know how little space we have.”

It was true. They had maybe fifteen to twenty feet before it killed them. “What are we going to do?”

Xypher considered their options … none of which were very good. He cleared his throat before he answered. “We’re going to find some way to get you out of this.”

“What if we can’t?”

Then she was going to die with him when he killed Satara. And there wouldn’t be any way to avoid it.

SIX

Simone jumped as the phone in her pocket rang, breaking the awkward silence between them. Pulling it out of her pocket, she answered it to find Julian on the other end.

“Sorry to bother you, Simone. But since my wife is back, we were wondering if you’d like us to return your car to you?”

“That would be fabulous. Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

“Not at all. Just give me the address and we’ll head over with it.”

“Oh, wait, you don’t have my car keys.”

He gave a low laugh. “Trust me, it won’t be a problem.”

How could she forget she was talking to a demigod? “In that case, thank you very much.”

Relieved to be getting her stuff back, Simone gave her address to him, then hung up. Finally something was going right. It was about ten hours too late, but maybe better late than never.

She pushed herself up from the bed. “I guess we need to bring the mattress from Jesse’s bed and lay it on the floor for you.”

Xypher stepped back to give her room to move around him. “Why would you do that?”

“So that you’ll have a comfy place to sleep tonight.”

His scowl deepened. “I don’t need a mattress.”

Was he serious? There was no way she was going to let a strange man sleep in her bed, especially not one who looked as good as him. She didn’t trust either one of them to keep their hands to themselves. “You can’t sleep on the floor. It’s cold.”

He arched a brow at her indignant tone. “I’ve been sleeping on ice-cold dirt for seven hundred years. At least your floors are clean and they don’t have anything scurrying over them that’ll bite me while I sleep.”

Her heart ached at what he described. By his expression, she could tell he wasn’t kidding or exaggerating. “What did you do that made them condemn you?”

He looked away.

Simone approached him slowly so that she could look up at him and touch his arm. She half expected him to curse and shove her away.

He didn’t.

Xypher couldn’t breathe as he stared into those curious hazel eyes that seared his soul. That touch, combined with those eyes, weakened him.

All he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and feel her soft comfort.

If only it were that simple. But it wasn’t. His aches couldn’t be relieved so easily. Too many centuries of abuse had left him hollow.

He let out a deep breath before he answered her question. “I let someone use me.”

“Use you how?”

How could he explain Satara to someone who had no concept of a creature so devious and cold? There were times when not even he understood the nature of their complicated relationship. “She addicted me to her emotions and used that addiction to control me. I thought I loved her and I would have done anything to make her happy.”

Simone cocked her head. “Anything, huh? So what did she ask you to do?”

He hesitated to tell her everything. There was no need in her knowing just what a monster he’d been. “I drove her enemies mad for her. Made them turn on each other and on their own families. They killed other people violently and then they killed themselves.”

He winced at the memories that still haunted him. Men he’d goaded into fights for no other reason than to make Satara happy. “Believe me, I earned my damnation. I’ve never shirked from it. It’s why I know that there’s no way Hades will free me when this is over. The Fates won’t allow it. But I shouldn’t have to suffer alone in Tartarus. I may have done the deeds, but Satara commissioned them.”

Simone tried to understand him and what he’d done. Why it had caused him to be condemned. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reconcile him with someone worthy of being punished so severely. “You said demons were tools for others. Why were you held accountable for being true to your nature?”

“I’m not just a demon, Simone. I’m a god. What I did was unforgivable. I don’t ask for any kind of salvation or for understanding.”

No, he only asked for vengeance.

“What made you so unforgiving?”

The intensity of that stare singed her. It was empty and cold and at the same time it touched something inside her. “Be grateful that you have the luxury of asking me that question. Pray to whatever god you worship that you’ll always be ignorant.”

He pulled away from her and walked to her window.

Jesse drifted back into the room, making her wonder where he’d been for the last few minutes. Then again, Jesse didn’t really like visitors in the house so maybe he’d taken a walk outside.

“Do you have any salt?” Xypher asked suddenly.

“Salt?” What a strange segue from their previous subject into an offbeat topic. What did salt have to do with anything?

He tested the lock on her window before he answered. “We need to spread it around the windows and doors, or anything else that leads outside.”

“Why?”

“Salt is a pure substance. Incorruptible. No full-blooded demon can cross it.”

Simone liked the sound of that, but she had one question. “You can, right?”