The Dark-Hunters (601 page)

As Simi came down the aisle, she lifted her bouquet to her lips and started nibbling the flowers. Ash shook his head, grateful she didn’t pull the barbecue sauce out of her purse and pour it over the gardenias. When she drew near her sister, she mouthed the words, “Good eats. We’ll get you one later.”

Then Kyrian’s daughter Marissa and Geary’s daughter Kalliope came down the aisle, sprinkling red and pink rose petals on the floor.

Ash looked at the door as they started playing the wedding march. For the first time, he was actually anxious.
Please don’t let her be the one to get cold feet
 …

Then he saw her.

His breath caught in his throat as Tory came down the aisle not in white but wearing black. She’d explained her choice of color to her family by saying that since white was the traditional color of Greek mourning, she wanted no part of it in her wedding. But the truth was, she knew how much he hated it because of Artemis.

She even carried a bouquet of mavyllos—the sacred black roses that had been created by Ash’s mother. The bouquet had been a gift from Apollymi and to receive them was considered the highest honor one Atlantean could give to another.

Ash smiled in pride. But what still amazed him most was that she was willing to stand up before all these people and claim him. He’d even offered to elope with her, but she’d refused.

“Boy,”
she’d said, angry over the fact he’d even suggested it,
“you are mine and I want the entire world to know it.”
For his wedding present, she’d even tattooed his sun emblem on her shoulder with his name underneath it.

Nothing in the world had ever pleased him more.

Tory almost stumbled as she caught sight of Ash in his tuxedo. His black hair was slicked back into a sophisticated ponytail. And for once his eyes were plainly visible to all. There were no piercings—he’d forgone them by saying that he wanted nothing to embarrass her before her family.

“You could never embarrass me, Ash,”
she’d told him.
“Besides, you are my family now.”
Even so, he’d toned his appearance down.

Theo released her to Ash with a gentle pat on Ash’s hand and a kiss on Tory’s. Hand in hand, they stood before the Greek priest and took their vows in ancient Greek.

When it was over, Ash pulled her to the back of the church and held her close. He placed a kiss on her bare shoulder where his emblem was plainly visible. “I guess it’s too late for you to back out now, huh?”

Tory scoffed at him. “Honey, it was too late for me to back out the first time you opened the door and sauntered into my lecture. I was a goner and didn’t even know it.”

He laced his hand with hers. “I have no idea what our future will hold and it makes me ill. But I promise you that no matter what, you won’t ever regret being with me. I swear it.”

She looked up at him. “You know what amazes me? I went searching for Atlantis and found an Atlantean god. How could I ever regret that?”

*   *   *

Nick stood outside the garden of Kyrian’s house, staring in at Ash’s wedding reception. Everyone was laughing and celebrating as Ash and Tory danced to the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody.” Hatred scalded his tongue as he watched Ash laughing with Tory. And yet the part of him he hated most was glad to see Ash so open and happy. There had always been an air of hopelessness around Ash.

Now that was gone. He only wished he could have been so happy.

“It’s not fair, is it?”

He turned his head to see Artemis standing behind him. Dressed all in white, she was unbelievably beautiful. “What are you doing here?”

“The same thing you are. Spying.” She let out a long breath as she closed the distance between them. “He turned us both, didn’t he?”

Nick frowned at her nonsensical words. “Turned us?”

“You know, missed us up.”

Missed? What the—Suddenly, he understood what she was trying to say. “You mean screwed?”

“Yes, he screwed us both.”

She had no idea. “And what did he do to you?”

“He abandoned me. He took my daughter and what do I have left? Nothing.”

Nick scoffed at her self-pity. “Yeah, well, at least you’re not on the Daimons’ most-wanted list. I swear I haven’t had a single moment’s peace. And the last thing I heard, Stryker’s getting ready to break badass all over us.”

She rolled her eyes. “You think Stryker doesn’t want me dead? My brother’s the one who turned on him. It’s a cold world where I live.”

“It could be worse. You could be friendless.”

She gave him an arch glare. “You think I’m not?”

Nick disregarded her question. She had no idea how miserable his life was. How lonely and heartbreaking. “How can a goddess be friendless?”

“The same way a human can.”

Yeah, she was insane. “You have the power to make your life better. I don’t.”

“That’s not true. I’ve lost my only friend.”

Honestly, that’s how Nick felt. He’d loved Ash like his brother and missed the friendship they’d had. Even though Ash had screwed him over, they had been so incredibly close.

Now, because Stryker could see everything Nick could whenever the demigod chose to look, he was completely isolated from the world he’d known before. No friends. No family.

He was alone and he hated it.

Artemis turned a speculative look toward him. “Would you be my friend, Nicholas? I promise you, you won’t regret it.”

*   *   *

A burst of wind blew through the party, lifting the hem of Tory’s dress.

Ash looked up at the sky and frowned as he heard the sound of far-off thunder.

“Is something wrong?” Tory asked.

“There’s a storm brewing.”

“You mean the weather, right?”

Ash shook his head slowly as his senses tingled. No, there was something coming for them. He could feel it. Dark and deadly, it wanted a piece of him.

“Don’t worry, Sota. I’ll keep you dry.” But even as he said the words, he knew the truth. He wasn’t her haven. She was his, and so long as he had her by his side, he could face anything. “Bring the rain,” he whispered, “bring the rain.”

These are two scenes that I wanted to work into other books, but they really didn’t have a place in them. The first one was originally in
Seize the Night,
but the length of the book was such that my editor at the time thought we should cut it, especially since it didn’t really relate to the story at hand. Our thinking then was that it might fit into another book, but it never did. So here it is now, in its entirety.

SEIZE THE NIGHT OUT-TAKE

Ash listened quietly as the priest spoke words of comfort outside the tomb in the St. Louis cemetery where Cherise Gautier had been laid to rest. Julian, Grace, Kyrian, Amanda, Tabitha and Valerius stood to his right while Talon, Sunshine and the Peltiers were lined up on his left to pay respect to one of the finest women Ash had ever been privileged to know. He was dressed in the same clothes he’d had on the day he’d first met the woman: a pair of slouchy black pants, an oversized black sweater and a long leather coat. Cherise had taken one look at him and clucked her tongue.

“When was the last time you ate?” she’d asked him.

“An hour ago.”

His words hadn’t fooled her at all. Convinced he was lying to save his pride, she’d promptly sat him down in a chair and proceeded to make him a plate of Cajun hashbrowns while Nick had tried not to laugh at them.

In the last eleven thousand years, Cherise had been one of the rare people who’d treated Ash like a human being. She hadn’t seen him as anything more than a young man who needed a mother’s love and a friend.

And he missed her more than anything.

As he stood with the cold wind cutting through him, he could hear his own soul screaming out in rage that he’d caused this. That he had no one to blame for her death but himself. How could one sentence uttered in anger cause so much damage? But then words were the most powerful thing in the universe. Cuts and bruises always healed, but words spoken in anger were most often permanent. They didn’t damage the body, they destroyed the spirit.

“I first met Cherise the day her mother bore her,” the old priest said to them. “And I was there the evening she brought her own child into this world. Nick was her pride and all of you who knew her know that if you’d ever asked her what her most prized possession was, she would have answered with Nick’s name.”

Kyrian slid a sideways look at Ash, who heard the former Greek general’s thoughts. Since Nick’s body hadn’t been found after the vicious murder of Cherise, the consensus among the New Orleans Dark-Hunters and Squires, both former and current, was that Nick had become a Dark-Hunter himself.

They all knew better than to ask Ash for the truth. The humans who didn’t know of their world all assumed that Nick had been another casualty to whatever fate had befallen his mother, while the authorities believed Nick had killed her.

That latter was why Ash knew he couldn’t bring Nick back to New Orleans. Not for a long time at least. The police were looking for him and they would convict him in a heartbeat.

Not to mention he didn’t really want anyone to know about Nick. At least not until Nick was ready to deal with the world. Right now the man was too hurt and too angry.

Not that Ash blamed him in the slightest.

After the priest finished, Amanda and Tabitha placed the roses they held in their hands at the door of Cherise’s tomb while the priest and the Peltiers left.

Amanda paused beside Ash. “We’re having a memorial service later for Nick at our house. Just the Dark-Hunters and Squires. We’d like for you to be there.”

Ash nodded, but refused to meet her eyes. If he did, he was sure she’d know the truth.

He didn’t move until he was alone. Sighing, he glanced at the stone monuments around him that made up the cemetery. There were so many people here whom he’d personally known. So many he’d seen live and die.

He could hear the sound of their voices on the wind, remember their faces, their lives.

Just like Cherise, they were now nothing more than memories to haunt him.

“I’m sorry, Cherise,” he whispered.

Stepping forward, he created a mavyllo, a sacred black rose that had been created by his mother, and laid it beside the red ones. Unlike the red ones, it would take root here and grow in memory of her.

It was the highest honor his kind could bestow on anyone.

“Don’t worry, Cherise. I won’t let anything else bad happen to your son … I promise.

This scene is the one I’d thought to put in the back of
Dream Chaser,
but again, it didn’t really fit. For those who’ve followed the Dark-Hunter and Dream-Hunter series, you’ll recall that in Talon’s book,
Night Embrace,
the Charonte escape from Kalosis and vanish.

They’re all assumed dead.

In
Dream Chaser,
we find out that they did survive. In fact, a large group of them have taken refuge in New Orleans. And for those of you curious, the demons will return in Fang and Aimee’s book, which will be out summer 2009.

In the meantime, here’s the reunion scene between Simi and her brother.

DREAM CHASER OUT-TAKE

“Why we coming to an old stupid club, akri? The Simi wants to shop.”

Ash hid his smile as he led Simi and Xirena toward the building at the corner of the block. “Well, it’s a special club.”

“Special how?” Xirena asked irritably. Like Simi, she wanted to shop and eat. “Is there food there?”

Ash nodded. “Pretty sure since the name of it’s Club Charonte.”

Simi stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Did akri buy his Simi a club?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Then how did it get named that?”

“You’ll see.” Ash tugged her gently forward.

The demons picked up their pace as they neared the club that wasn’t open for business yet. A screaming pink neon sign flashed above it.

Ash used his powers to unlock the door before he led them inside. The moment he did, Xirena let out an ear-piercing shriek. “Xedrix!” She ran across the room to tackle her brother to the floor.

Simi scowled. “Is that the Simi’s Xedrix, akri?”

“Yes, Sim, it’s your brother.”

Simi bit her lip, but was more cautious as she went toward her siblings. Xedrix was trying to push Xirena off, but the moment he saw Simi, he froze.

“Xiamara?” he breathed. There was no way to mistake Simi since she was the exact image of the mother she’d been named after.

“Rik-rik?”

His human body changed immediately to his demon form as he shot out from under Xirena to embrace the little sister he hadn’t seen in centuries. “You’re alive!”

Simi wrapped her arms around him and squealed. “Rik-rik! I’ve missed you so much.”

Ash stepped back, his heart pounding at the sight of her happiness. He knew he made the other Charonte demons in the bar nervous, including Xedrix. Since they were in thrall to the Atlantean gods, he technically owned them, and they still had a hard time believing that he wasn’t interested in putting them back into chains.

“That was very decent of you.”

He turned to find Xedrix’s wife, Kerryna, behind him. Tiny and blond, she was beautiful. The Dimme demon was also on the run from those who would harm her if they had a chance. But Ash didn’t have a problem with demons.

Hell, he owed his sanity to one. And as he watched Simi, he was grateful that he hadn’t sent her packing when his mother had given her to him.

“Simi’s my family. What makes her happy, makes me happy.”

“I keep telling Xedrix that you’re not like the other gods. He doesn’t believe me yet. But I think he will eventually.”

Ash offered her a smile. “Thanks. In the meantime, I’m going to wait outside. If Simi realizes I’m gone, tell her not to worry and to take her time.”

Kerryna laughed. “Yeah, it’s not like we don’t have all the time in the world, right?”

“True.” He looked down at her belly. She and Xedrix were expecting their own baby. “Congratulations.”