The Dark-Hunters (599 page)

One eyebrow shot up at her words. At least until she reached down to cup him in her hand. Then he sucked his breath in sharply as she slowly unzipped his pants. “What are you doing?”

She licked her lips at the heat that pounded through her veins. “I’m still feeling rather … perky from that feeding. And honestly, Papa Smurf, you look good enough to eat.”

Ash could barely breathe as she sank to the floor in front of him and opened his fly. She looked up at him, her eyes bright with love an instant before she took him into her mouth.

All reason flew out of his head as he watched her tease and lick. “You’ve been reading your book again, haven’t you?”

She laughed and the sensation of her throat vibrating around him was more than he could stand. Before he could stop himself, his body released. Ash leaned back against the wall as his body spasmed. Honestly, it was one of the best he’d ever had and the fact that she didn’t pull away from him only made it sweeter.

Until he realized what he’d done. Then he cursed at his stupidity while he waited for her to let him have it. “I didn’t mean to, Tory. I should have warned you.”

She scowled up at him as she zipped his pants. “Warned me about what?”

He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “I normally have more control. I promise I’ll give you time to pull away in the future.”

Tory rose up and turned his chin until he met her gaze. “Ash, there is nothing about you that I find disgusting. Nothing. Not your eyes. Not your funky blue body. And especially not something that I initiated. In fact, I love the way you taste and I like it that you lost control. It means I’m doing it right.”

Cupping her cheek, he nuzzled her cheek, delighting in the smoothness of her skin against his. “You’re too good to be true.”

“You only say that ’cause there’s no hammer around.”

He laughed and dipped his head to nuzzle her neck. “I’m so grateful you don’t find me repulsive anymore.”

She teased his ear with her fingers. “Just remember to always warn me before you drop fang on me again.”

He looked at her with a frown. “Drop fang?”

She smiled playfully. “Yeah, it’s a term from the vampire series L.A. Banks writes. You should read her books sometime. They’re great.”

“With an endorsement like that, how could I refuse? But first, I think we need to read more of this Tickle Pickle book of yours.”

She laughed until pickles made her think of food. “Hey, does the blood thing mean I can’t eat anymore?”

“No, Tory,” he teased. “You just don’t
have
to eat real food. You can taste it, but it won’t quench the blood hunger. That you’ll have to feed every couple of weeks.”

“Or I turn into Mrs. Smurf?”

He laughed. “No. Only I do that. You’ll just turn into…”

“What?”

“I was thinking of Simi’s term. A bitch-goddess.”

She punched playfully at his stomach. “Don’t you ever call me that! You evil man.”

Ash sobered as he realized the way they were playing and bantering. Not once in all of his life had he been so at ease with anyone. She knew everything about him.

Everything.

And none of it mattered to her. His past was nothing.

But she was his future.

Taking her hand, he led her to his bed where he intended to make love to her for the rest of the day. He kissed her as he dissolved their clothes and placed her in the bed. “I love you, Soteria.”

Tory rolled him over, wrapped her long, lean body against his and held him close. “
Sagapo,
Achimou.
Sagapo.
”

Her Greek warmed him as the hairs at the juncture of her thighs teased his stomach and made his body start to harden again. “
Agapay,
Sota.”

Tory frowned up at him. “
Agapay?
”

He nodded. “Atlantean for ‘I love you.’ Sota is the Atlantean endearment for your name.”

Tory loved the sound of that, especially the way it rolled off his tongue in that sexy, lilting accent of his, and she loved most that he was sharing his language with her. “What would an endearment of your name be?”

“Acho.”

“
Agapay,
Acho.”

He toyed with her hair as he smiled down at her. “I always hated Atlantean, but not when you speak it.”

She couldn’t imagine why, given how beautiful it was. She could listen to him speak it all day and when he did—watch out. It made her extremely hot.

Nipping his shoulder made her wonder something else. “Out of curiosity, how many languages do you know?”

“I’m a god, Tory. I know all of them. And when you come into contact with them, you will too.”

“Now that’s impressive.” She bit her lip in glee and then her eyes widened. “Ooo, and I have another thought. You’re omniscient, right?”

“For the most part, yes.”

“Then you have to tell me this ’cause I have to know. What’s at the end of everything?”

He shrugged. “That’s easy enough.”

“Then tell me.”

“The letter G.”

Groaning, Tory hit him in the head with a pillow. “You’re rotten, Achimou. For that, you get a tongue lashing.” She rolled him over until he was under her.

Ash sucked his breath in as she encircled his nipple with her tongue. Now this was the kind of tongue lashing a man could look forward to. “What else can I do to piss you off?”

She nipped at his ribs. “You can leave me.”

He sobered with the thought. “I would never do that, Tory. No one can live without their heart and that’s what you are to me.”

Tory lay down over him and held him close. Until another horrible thought occurred to her. She tensed and pushed herself up so that she could meet his gaze. “Wait, Ash … doesn’t Artemis own your soul?”

“No. I’m not really a Dark-Hunter. Unlike them, I didn’t willingly give my soul to her. She used my powers to trick me and brought me back against my will. But because I’m a god, she couldn’t take my soul from me. I’ve always had it.”

“But you had the bow and arrow mark.” Which wasn’t on his body at present.

“Only because I didn’t want the other Dark-Hunters to know I wasn’t one of them. I just wanted them to treat me like I was normal. It’s the same reason I have fangs whenever they’re around even though they recede unless I’m about to feed.”

She propped her head up in her hand and made circles over his chest. “You know you don’t have to be normal around me, right?”

“I know.”

“Good.”

And for the rest of the night, Ash took his time making love to her. Showing her exactly how much she meant to him and how much he treasured her.

It was just after midnight when she finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. His body fully sated, Ash covered her with a blanket before he left the bed and dressed himself in black leather pants and a long VG Cat Rat Flail T-shirt. Pulling his long coat over it, he flashed himself from New Orleans to Mount Olympus.

For once he didn’t go to see Artemis. Instead he made his way over to the temple of the Fates. The moment he set foot in the foyer, Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis appeared to block him from the rest of their domain. Not that they could. As the Final Fate, he ruled them and they knew it.

“What are you doing here?” Clotho asked, her voice high-pitched from her nervousness.

“I wanted to speak to you.”

“About what?”

He looked at Atropos, who was tall and blond and who absolutely hated him with a passion he’d never understood. In that moment, he allowed her to see every ounce of fury inside him. “You
ever
sever the thread for Soteria’s life again and there’s no power in existence that will keep me from tearing your throat out. The three of you have screwed me over for the last time. In all these centuries, I’ve left you alone. Now, I’m warning you to return the favor because the next time you tamper with my fate, I will end yours.”

The fear on their faces told him that they understood and had taken his point to heart. Good.

He was through playing games. When it came to Soteria, he had no sense of humor whatsoever. Anyone who threatened her, ended their own life.

It was that simple.

She’d taught him to finally embrace who and what he was. Woe to the rest of them. Because he was now the Harbinger not just for his mother, but for a slip of a woman who held his heart.

For her, he’d do anything.

Even end the world.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TWO WEEKS LATER
NEW ORLEANS

Even though Ash trusted Tory, his gut was in a knot as he followed her toward the lecture hall at Tulane where she was going to give another speech on Atlantis. “Why won’t you tell me what you’re planning to say?”

The obvious answer was she wanted to torture him, which she’d been doing for days.

Damn, she could give Artemis lessons on it.

She gave him that same, warm smile that only served to scare him more. “It’s none of your business. But if you start in on me and my reputation like you did in Nashville, you’re going to be living in your own apartment again. Alone. Remember, I get Simi custody. Right, Sim?”

“That’s right.” Simi grinned proudly as she skipped along beside him. “Relax, akri. Akra-Tory won’t do nothing to make you angry. Only the Simi does that.”

He laughed even though the knot in his stomach drew tighter with every step they took closer to the room.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Tory said, returning to the topic she’d started on their way over here. “What was Julius Caesar really like?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “The man was brilliant, but he cheated at dice.”

She let out an impressed breath as she tightened her shoulders dreamily. “I can’t believe you met him
and
Alexander the Great.”

“Well, Alex was an accident. I was chasing a Daimon who ran into the town where he was staying and after I killed it, he tried to get me to join his army. I told him I was leading my own and didn’t have time to unite.”

Tory never grew tired of hearing the memories of Ash’s past. He’d done so many fascinating things and had witnessed the history that she’d only read about. He’d been there during the first sack of Rome. Had stood on the Wall of China just days after it’d been finished. He’d debated philosophy with Confucius and had eaten dinner with Kublai Khan and attended a feast with Buddha when he’d been just a young boy. He’d walked in Egypt when the Giza necropolis was being built. He’d played games with the dauphin when the boy had been a toddler and eaten dinner with the real King Arthur … it was just incredible the life he’d lived.

And he made her wonder what future historical events the two of them would share together.

“What about Jesus?” she asked, dying to know. “Did you ever meet him?”

“I heard him speak on several occasions. Again, he was brilliant and fascinating. There was just something about him that made you pay attention.”

“But you didn’t meet him?”

He shook his head.

“Why not?”

“For the same reason I never officially met Gandhi. I didn’t feel worthy enough. I just liked to listen to them speak.” Ash opened the door to the lecture hall.

Tory froze as she saw the gathered crowd.

Ash put his hand on her arm to steady her. “It’ll be all right. Simi and I will eat anyone who so much as blinks at you in the wrong way.”

Still she wasn’t comforted. “I don’t know about this.”

“Then let’s leave. My bike’s outside, fully fueled.”

She glared at him before she shook her head. “At least my pages are numbered this time.” Taking a deep breath for courage, she forced herself to enter the room where the people looked more like sharks to her than historians, students and archaeologists.

But at least this time she had Ash with her. And Simi.

Ash stayed by her side until he reached the first row. He set his backpack down, then took a seat. Simi flounced down beside him and smiled encouragingly.

Tory felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest as she approached the podium. The crowd here was almost as large as the one in Nashville.

God, how she hated speaking in public.

As she readied her pages, the door opened to admit Kim and Pam, who waved at her before they came forward to sit beside Simi. Grateful for their support, Tory adjusted the microphone. And just as she was about to start her speech, Artemis opened the door.

She went cold at the sight and what it might mean. Not to mention, she saw the way Ash visibly tensed as if waiting for Armageddon to start.

Without a word to anyone or a glance to Ash, Artemis moved to sit in the back row, away from Ash and the crowd.

What the devil did she want?

Clearing her throat, Tory forced herself to ignore her. Artemis wasn’t the important one here.

“Um, hi, everyone,” she said, speaking lightly into the mike. “I wanted to say thank you for coming today. I know some of you were there in Nashville to witness the debacle of my extreme humiliation…” She narrowed her gaze at Ash, who had the good grace and sense to look sheepish and contrite. “But as you know, my team, a couple of weeks ago, excavated a large section of the underwater ruins we believed to be Atlantis.”

A hand went up from a man she recognized as a historian, but she couldn’t recall his name. She pointed at him.

“I heard that among the things found were conclusive artifacts that date back to 9,000 BC. If you can confirm this, you do know that you will have totally rewritten the historical record?”

Before she could respond the doors opened one more time to show her a UPS delivery man. Oblivious to the fact that he was interrupting her lecture, he headed straight for her. “Dr. Kafieri?”

“That would be me.”

He handed her an electronic pad to sign.

Confused, she nervously looked around. “Please excuse me,” she told the room as she signed her name, then took the small package from his hands. Frowning, she opened it to find Ryssa’s final journal, the one that Artemis had had her men steal along with Ash’s backpack.

It was the conclusive proof that would rewrite history and make not only her name but that of her father and uncle legends in their field.