The Dark-Hunters (570 page)

Ash hesitated to even ask for more. “And the third?”

“In one word, grisly.”

Ash cursed. “So no matter what I do, the world is fucked?”

“I didn’t say that. There’s always hope, Apostolos. Of all men, you know that. It’s only when you stop trying to affect the outcome of your life that you’re truly defeated. What will come will come. It’s how we deal with the shit in between that shapes us.”

Ash snorted at his words. “You don’t deal with anything, Savitar. You sit out here in the sun, catching waves, spewing bullshit philosophy you don’t follow.”

“You’re right. I gave up trying to affect my destiny a long time ago. But that’s because every time I tried to change the future, I fucked it up worse. Eventually the rat gets tired of pulling the lever and sits down in his corner to lick his wounds. So if you’re ready to hang it up and come sit on the beach with me—”

“I’m stuck fighting.”

“You’re stuck fighting.” Savitar lay back down on his board. “But you’re welcome to come share my beach any time you get tired of the brawl.”

Ash let out a long sigh as he considered it seriously. “Save me a spot. If this blows up in my face, I’ll be back with my tail forever tucked between my legs.” Because deep inside he knew the truth—he’d been through enough ridicule. He couldn’t stand to see the people he loved look at him the way Ryssa had when she’d found him in the stew in Didymos. Even though she’d loved him and had forgiven him, the disappointment in her eyes was still seared into his soul.

He couldn’t take that again.

“Wave’s coming,” Ash warned his mentor.

He didn’t move as Savitar popped up on his board with one perfect flip.

The moment the wave struck, Ash returned to New Orleans. Water sports had never been his thing. He preferred freefalling through the air or speeding on the ground.

And he hadn’t been a spectator in over eleven thousand years. If he’d learned anything in his godhood, it’d been to fight until they dragged him down.

Even then, he didn’t know how to not keep battling.

There was another journal out there. Fine. He was going to find it and make sure no living human or other being ever read it.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ash paused as he entered the house to find the three women lined up and … singing to … dear gods, anything but this.

“Fergilicious.”

All he needed was for Simi to be here and off-key with them since it was her favorite song and he’d spent the better part of the last year cursing whoever was dumb enough to introduce that song to a hormonal teenaged demon. Worst part? Simi wanted him to call her Similicious.

Yeah, like that would ever happen. He’d sooner become a Calvin Klein underwear model.

“C’mon, Ash,” Kim called. “Join us.”

He looked at her with horror filling his soul. “Oh, hell no. Not enough beer in the world to make me sing ‘I’ll put your boy on rock, rock.’”

The women laughed so hard, Kim collapsed on the couch while Pam and Tory roared.

“So did you find anything?” Tory asked after she finally sobered.

“A broken headlight on the car across the street and two streetlights that are out.” Ash picked up Tory’s cell phone and held it out to her. “I actually need you to call your people and ask them if they found another journal.”

Tory gave him a droll stare. “Believe me, if they’d found something as monumental as that they would have told me immediately.”

“Even if they’d done it right before they were taken into custody?”

“Then the government would have it.”

“Tory, please, just humor me. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

As she reached for the phone in his hand, it started ringing. By the tone and the look on her face, he could tell she knew who it was before she answered.

“Hey, Bruce, what’s…” Her voice trailed off as her face lost color.

Ash put his hand on her shoulder to steady her.

“Oh my God. No…”

He exchanged a confused look with Pam until he listened to the other end of the conversation.

“It was awful, Tory. We’d just been released maybe an hour when I got the call that he’d been mugged—just like Nikolas—on his way into his flat and was in surgery.”

“What are the doctors saying?”

“They don’t know. It’s not looking good. But what’s scariest is that the guys who ran him down rifled through his bag and pockets … like they were looking for something in particular. They didn’t take any money or his watch. Nothing … Harry said they were asking him questions as they beat on him, but since his Greek isn’t fluent he couldn’t understand what they wanted. They just kept beating the shit out of him until he lost consciousness.”

Tory glanced up at Acheron, becoming suspicious about all of his “feelings.” They were so unerringly accurate that she wondered if he might not be a part of them. “Did any of you happen to find another journal during the dig?”

“Earlier in the morning, just before the police arrived, we’d hit the mother lode of artifacts.”

“But was there another journal?”

“It wasn’t as well preserved as the one you have, but yeah, there was another book and get this … it wasn’t wet. It’d been sealed in an airtight container that was inside a wood chest inlaid with gold. It looked like someone had stashed it there out of fear or something.”

“Where is it now?”

“I don’t know. Last I heard, Dimitri had it.”

“I need you to find Dimitri and get that book to me.”

“Why? It’s not like anyone can read it.”

“Yes, they can.”

“Who?”

She looked up at Ash and wished that she could see the eyes he kept hidden from the world. “A man here in the States.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. He’s the one who told me that there were probably more of them to be found and he’s the one who got you guys out of jail. Now listen, my house was broken into and it appears they were looking for something, too. My friend says it’s the journal. I don’t know the truth, but until we do, you guys be really, really careful and keep me posted on Harry and Niko.”

“Will do, Doc.”

She turned off the phone and looked up at those dark sunglasses that she suspected hid a lot more than just his eye color. “What’s going on, Ash?”

He rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. “You’ve found a crucial piece of history and there are factions out there who are willing to kill for it.”

No, it had to be more than that. It had to be. “Look, this isn’t
The Mummy.
It’s not like a teenaged girl’s diary could resurrect the dead or anything. It’s just the story of her innocuous life. What on earth could an ancient girl have known that would be worth killing someone over?”

He scoffed at her. “You’re asking me that question? People kill each other over a pair of shoes or for wearing the same jacket.”

Pam nodded. “He has a point there.”

“I still don’t understand it. I don’t.”

Ash shook his head. “There’s a lot of things about this world, and people in particular, that I don’t understand.” And considering the fact he was an eleven-thousand-year-old god, that pretty much said it all.

He looked at Tory, wishing he could trust her enough to tell her why that book was so important, but for all he knew the reason he couldn’t see her future was because she’d end up being the one to destroy him or the world.

I’m the Harbinger. Only I can bring about Telikos.

Or maybe not … His prophecy was to bring it about. By teaching her to translate his native language, he might have already set it in motion. If only he’d known about the second diary. It’d all seemed so harmless—a way to make amends for embarrassing the granddaughter of an old friend. Now it could be a disaster.

Feeling suddenly ill, he sat down on the arm of her couch. What had he done?

“Are you all right?” Tory asked. “You look really pale all of a sudden.”

No, he wasn’t all right. He was sick to his stomach at the thought of what he might have inadvertently done. Just like with Nick Gautier. In the heat of anger, he’d cursed his best friend to kill himself. Unfortunately, Artemis had then brought Nick back from the dead and created a nasty situation for Ash. Now his best friend was out to kill him in revenge.

Be careful what you say even in passing. Your word is law.
His mother’s warning rang in his ears and now that he thought about it, his mother had been eerily quiet for the past week.

Matera?
he called out to her with his mind.

Apostolos?
He was grateful for her quick response. By that he knew she wasn’t hiding from him in fear of making him angry at her.

What is going on with the discovery of Atlantis?

Nothing. Stupid humans. Even when I tell them how to open the seal to my prison, they can’t follow the simplest of directions. Where’s an Atlantean when I need one?

Dead, courtesy of you, Mom.

Oh, don’t remind me
 …
Did you need something, m’gios? You’ve been very quiet lately.

I’ve been busy and I have a problem. Someone’s found one of Ryssa’s diaries. Do you know where it is?

She paused before she answered hesitantly.
Yes.

And?

She didn’t answer.

Matera?

Yes?
Her voice was sharp with impatience.

Don’t play this game with me. I need to know where it is. Now.

I’m your mother, don’t you dare take that tone with me.

He softened his voice before he spoke again.
Please, Matera, where’s the journal?

I can’t tell you.

“Dammit to hell, Matera, answer me!” Ash shot off the couch in anger only to realize all three women were staring at him curiously.

Pam cleared her throat. “Any idea what he just said?”

Tory frowned. “Um … not really.”

“Wow,” Kim said with a light laugh, “some Greek the Greek princess can’t understand. I’m impressed.”

Pam arched one brow. “Must be the voices in his head that he was responding to. I just hope they’re not telling him to kill us.”

Ash felt heat scalding his cheeks.

“Ooo,” Pam cooed. “That’s nice. I like the way his cheeks mottle with red when we embarrass him.”

“They do that when he’s angry or sweating too,” Tory said, eating a bite of cold pizza.

“Really?” Pam asked. “I have to say it makes him even hotter in my opinion.”

Ash growled at them. “Women, please, could you not discuss this while I’m standing here?”

Pam cocked her other brow. “Are you back with us or still talking to the people in your head?” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a Bluetooth headset. “Tell ya what … Son of Sam. Why don’t you put that on so that I have some peace of mind and can at least pretend that you’re on the phone with someone else and not taking orders from dogs or something.”

Ash laughed at her halfhearted truth. “It’s okay, I was just thinking of how bad things could have gotten had Tory been here when the house was broken into.”

The women exchanged nervous looks of doubt.

Pam glanced toward the door. “You know, Tory, he has a point. What with the others being mugged…”

“Maybe you shouldn’t stay here,” Kim added. “Why don’t you come stay with us?”

Tory shook her head. “I can’t put you guys at risk and I don’t want to live in fear. I can load Henry and take care of myself.”

“Henry?” Ash asked curiously.

Kim answered, “Her Beretta baby-sitter.”

He was surprised that Tory would have a gun. She didn’t seem the type. “Can you use that thing?”

Pam laughed as she gestured to Tory, who appeared extremely unassuming as she ate more pizza. “Look at her. She looks so harmless and meek, but inside she’s a lion. Tory is an adrenaline junkie the likes of which you’ve probably never seen … everything from deep-sea diving to base jumping. Hell, she even jumps out of perfectly good airplanes for fun.”

Ash was surprised and impressed by that. “Really?”

Tory shrugged. “I do like to live dangerously.”

“No,” Pam said, her voice filled with pride for her friend, “she lives fearlessly.”

He inclined his head respectfully. “Fearlessness is a most desirable trait in any human being. Stupidity isn’t. I’ll stay with you until this blows over.” The statement surprised him, but then again it made complete sense. Her team would get the journal to her and if he stayed close to her, he’d be the first one to find it. Then he could destroy it before anyone else had a chance to read it.

He hoped.

Pam hooked her arm into Tory’s. “I’d go with his offer. You’ve been to our place before, which means you know about Kim and her ‘underwear on the floor’ problem.”

“That’s not my underwear! That’s yours.”

Pam waved her ire away with one hand. “Let’s not bicker over the small things in life such as who owns the underwear. Point being, I’d hang with the big guy. He’s a lot more intimidating than us.”

“He’s cuter too,” Kim grinned. “If she passes on his offer, can I beg protection? I think I have a neighbor who’s been giving me the evil moti. He could hurt me, you know?”

Ash laughed. “I don’t know … that underwear problem of yours…”

Pam burst out laughing.

Kim pouted. “Like you’ve never done it.”

Actually he hadn’t. He didn’t wear underwear to drop on the floor. But the women didn’t need to know that. “Switching topics again. Did you hear back from Dimitri about the journal?”

“Not yet.”

“He’s in Greece?” Ash asked.

Tory nodded.

“Okay.” Ash swung his backpack up on his shoulder. “I hate to leave you guys, but I’m going to my place to grab some clothes. You have my cell phone number. If you so much as see a shadow out the window, call me and I’ll be right back. I only live a few blocks away.”

Tory smiled. “We’ll be fine.”

Ash hoped so. Heading for the door, he left them and went out to the street. As soon as he was sure no one could see him, he flashed himself to Greece outside the door of Augustus Tsigas’s house.

Gus’s father had been a Squire, one of the human servants who helped Dark-Hunters. As an adult, Gus had gone to work for the Greek government, thus helping not only Ash, but other Greek Dark-Hunters when they needed it.