The Dark-Hunters (646 page)

Madoc glanced to Zeth. “And we’re now one force reunited. Right, Zeth?”

“Bite me, asshole.”

The Oneroi standing behind him popped him on the back of the head. Zeth turned to attack, but didn’t manage more than a step before Madoc had him in a headlock. “Don’t try my patience, Zeth. It’s running perilously thin.” He let out a deep sigh as he glanced back to Jericho. “It really makes you wonder how Ash manages to handle the Dark-Hunters, doesn’t it?”

Jericho laughed. “So what name do we call you?”

He released Zeth, who snarled, but thought better of attacking him again. “I’m sticking with Madoc. It’ll remind me of why we can never let Zeus or anyone else ever subjugate us again.”

“I can respect that. And I think I know how Ash handles his crew.” Jericho pulled off the whip that Azura had given him and handed it to Madoc.

But as he did so, a thought struck him.

“Sonofa … I know how we can get inside Azmodea.”

Madoc’s eyes lit up with the same excitement he felt. “How?”

“Asmodeus!” he shouted, summoning the demon to him.

The demon appeared instantly. “You rang, Mino—well, you’re not really the Minor Master anymore, are you? What should I call you?”

Jericho narrowed his gaze threateningly. “Think of a polite term, demon.”

Asmodeus’s eyes widened. “Mister Master it is. What can I do for you?”

“Get us into Azmodea.”

The demon sputtered in disbelief. “Why in the name of smelly feet would you want to go there again? What good could possibly come from that?”

“We need to get Jaden out.”

“You can’t.”

Jericho turned as Jared approached them. He must have teleported in right after the demon. Still dressed in black, he looked remarkably fresh and undamaged given the fight they’d all been through.

“What do you mean?” Jericho asked.

Jared’s eerie eyes were sad. “Jaden willingly consigned himself to their service. You take him out of there without their permission, and he dies. Believe me, if I could have carried him out of there, I would have.”

Delphine sighed. This was getting worse. Thanks to Zeus they couldn’t send Jericho in and now they couldn’t even use Jaden. “Then how do we stop Noir and Azura if we can’t get to Jaden?”

“You’d have to send in Cam and Rezar. Only they have the power to imprison Noir and Azura.”

Delphine glanced around, grateful to see she wasn’t the only one who thought Jared had lost his mind. “Who?”

Jericho answered in a cold, dead tone. “The original gods of the sun and of fire. They are said to be the most powerful of all the creation gods.”

Jared inclined his head to him. “Exactly. They alone have the powers to negate Azura and Noir.” Air and darkness. Those could only be extinguished by sun and fire.

That at least gave Delphine a degree of hope. “Where are they?”

Jared shrugged. “No one knows. After the first war, they, disgusted by what they’d seen from the gods and humanity, withdrew into hiding.”

Jericho cursed foully at the news. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Jared shook his head. “The only person who could find them or even identify them is Jaden. Or Noir and Azura. Since I’m relatively sure they don’t want them found, I wouldn’t put money on the two of them helping us.”

Jericho expelled an agitated breath. “So there’s no way to completely defeat them.”

“They’re gods, Jericho. You’ve already fought that war, and how many centuries did you and the Olympians fight? Taking out a god isn’t easy. The best you can do is trap them, but that takes stealth, and since they’re both on guard now…”

“So what do we do?” Madoc asked.

“You’ll have to negate the gallu threat. Protect the humans and wait for the Malachai to mature his powers—praying the whole time he doesn’t join ranks with Noir.” Jared looked around at the Oneroi gathered. “And keep them out of our dreams. I’m sure with the gallu, they’ll be attacking on that front. Zarek’s plan is the best bet you have. Reclaim, neutralize or kill every Olympian who stands with them. Show them no mercy.”

Zeth frowned. “But you’re still saying that we can’t win this.”

“No—we can … eventually. It won’t be this week or this year and definitely not today. But if we assemble the right team and make no mistakes, we can defeat them and put them in a place where they’ll never be able to harm another person or god again.”

Delphine swallowed at the dire prediction. “And if we fail?”

Madoc sighed. “It’ll suck to be human.”

“It’ll suck more to be us,” Zeth said in a surly tone.

Jared nodded.

“I can’t believe I was ever stupid enough to trust Noir. Come to the dark side. We have cookies,” Zeth grumbled.

Jericho clapped him on the back. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It wasn’t the cookies that tempted you.”

“No. When you’re denied basic necessities, you’re willing to do anything to get them.”

Jericho met Delphine’s gaze. “Believe me, I know and I almost made the same mistake you did. Evil is seductive. It’s what makes the two of them so dangerous.”

“No,” Jared said, his tone dire. “It’s our willingness to believe their lies and to see what we want to see that makes it so dangerous. Even when we know better, we lie to ourselves and that’s where the true betrayal is.”

Zeth nodded. “As the great poet once wrote, ‘To thine own self be true.’”

They all stared at him aghast.

“What?” he asked in an offended tone. “You don’t think a Skotos can be literate? I happen to love Shakespeare.
Hamlet
is one of my faves.”

Jericho snorted. “I’m not touching that one with tongs and a gas mask.” He looked back at Madoc. “What other changes have you guys decided on?”

Madoc indicated him and Zeth. “We don’t know if D’Alerian lives or not. I’m going to keep hoping, but until we know for sure, we have to have someone to lead the Oneroi and help them adjust to what’s going on.” His eyes sad, he hesitated before he spoke again. “M’Ordant’s dead, and our hierarchy is in shambles. As much as it pains me to admit it, I think Zeth is right and it’ll help to have him in as a commander. He’s been leading the Skoti for a while now and they tend to listen to him.”

Zeth scoffed. “For the record, I was his third choice behind Solin and Xypher.”

Madoc gave him an unamused stare. “And all things considered, you’re probably the more sensible one anyway. Xypher’s more demon than Skotos, and Solin … he’d only be interested in monitoring and helping our women.”

Deimos gave a short laugh of agreement. “Phobos and I are still in charge of the Dolophoni. Nothing changes there, except we’ll be assisting the Oneroi more now than we have in the past.”

It all sounded great to Jericho except for one minor concerning detail. “Have you run this by Zeus?”

Madoc shook his head. “Not yet, but I don’t think he’ll oppose it. So long as we keep his dreams clear, he should be all right with it.”

Zeth didn’t look as convinced. “What if he takes our emotions again?”

“He won’t,” Jericho said with total confidence.

Still, Zeth was skeptical. “How can you be so sure?”

Jericho wasn’t about to tell them of his bargain with the asshole. No one needed to know what he’d relegated himself to for their benefit. “I put a safeguard in. If he goes back on his word, it won’t go well for him.”

Asmodeus wrinkled his brow as he looked back and forth between the group. “So where does my demon self fit into all this?”

Deimos draped an arm around his shoulder. “Technical advisor. Since you know our enemies so well, we’re going to pick your brain.”

Asmodeus’s eyes widened. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. There’s no need to torture me for it.”

Deimos looked around, his face a mask of befuddlement. “Huh?”

Delphine laughed before she explained. “Pick your brain is an idiomatic expression, Asmodeus. It means we’ll have you tell us things. We’re not actually going in there to mess with your head.”

He let out a long, relieved breath. “Oh, thank the Source. I can’t stand it when someone opens my skull. It really hurts.”

Deimos screwed his face up in sympathy. “I’m glad I’m not a demon.”

Asmodeus looked eager again. “So where do we start?”

Madoc glanced to Jericho and Deimos. “With Azura and Noir—we need to be attacking them and weakening them. So long as they’re defending, they won’t be able to plot. The more we use our Oneroi to hit them, the better. They have to sleep sometime.”

“And I can help,” Jared offered. “So long as my lady allows me to. By the way,” he looked at Jericho, “you can never allow them to have Jaden’s medallion.”

“Why?”

“When placed over the heart of a god, it renders the god powerless.”

Jericho gaped as a brilliant idea went through him. “Can we use it on Noir?”

“I’m rather sure that’s why Jaden wanted it.”

“Then why hasn’t he used it?” Zeth asked.

Jared gave him a wry stare. “Have you ever tried to put something like that around the throat of a god who hates you? It’s not the easiest thing. I’m sure if it were simple, Jaden would have done it.”

“Okay, good point, but still…”

“We need that amulet,” Jericho finished.

Jared nodded. “But once Zephyra learns you don’t have it, she’s going to recall me.”

“Maybe, maybe not. We might be able to negotiate with her again.”

Jared scoffed. “Negotiating with her isn’t the easiest thing to do. More often than not, it involves blood-letting. And by that I mean mine.”

“Delphine?”

Delphine frowned as she saw an Oneroi woman calling her from across the room.

“Do you know her?” Jericho asked.

“No, but she obviously knows me.” She smiled at him. “I’ll be right back.”

Jericho watched her leave, his heart heavy. The one thing he regretted most out of all this was that as Zeus’s slave, he’d never see her again.

She would be lost to him.

Unwilling to think about it, he returned to their conversation. He wouldn’t regret what he’d done. Only the future that the two of them would be denied.

*   *   *

Delphine followed the Oneroi who motioned her out of the hall. What could the woman possibly want? And why couldn’t they speak in the large room with the others?

Curious, she approached the goddess, who had finally stopped walking away from her. “Did you need something?”

Raven-haired and petite, the woman reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t think of who. She turned toward Delphine with a smile. “Yes, there is something I need.”

“And that is?”

The woman split from one into three identical goddesses. Before Delphine could even move, they had her bound.

“Your death,” the first one snarled an instant before she slashed her throat.

CHAPTER 14

Jericho paused in front of the large windows that looked out onto the serene beach far below. It was beautiful here, and he wondered how many times Delphine had stood in this spot unable to appreciate how lovely it was because of what Zeus had done to her.

That would no longer be her problem.

Madoc joined him. “You know, I’ve been faking not having emotions for so long that I’m not really sure how to show them now. I still want to be completely stoic. Weird, huh?”

Jericho shrugged. “Makes sense to me. When you live a lie long enough, it has a way of becoming the truth.” Although after all the centuries he’d spent living as a mute, it was hard to believe how easily he’d adapted to speaking again.

It made him wonder if anyone other than Delphine could have opened him up the same way.

No. No one had ever had her effect on him. She was unique, and without her, he would have been lost for all eternity.

Madoc stepped closer and lowered his voice. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but Zeth and I talked it over. We’d like to offer you the third position as Oneroi leader. We think you’d be great at it.”

Jericho frowned. “I’m not an Oneroi.”

“No, but you’re a warrior with practical experience outside of dreams. We need someone to teach us new tactics against the demons.”

What a nice world that would have been. But his new reality would never allow him that kind of luxury. “Yeah, well, I’d love to, but I have to decline.”

“Why?”

Jericho glanced to the door where Delphine had vanished. “My time is spoken for and there’s no way to get out of it. Sorry. But I can think of someone else who would be great at it. Someone who can move entire mountain ranges with nothing more than the sheer force of her obstinate will.”

Madoc smiled as if he understood perfectly. “Delphine?”

Before Jericho could answer, the door crashed open to show him Delphine battling three identical women. Clad in black, they came at her with swords even as she danced around them, blocking their moves with her staff and thrusting back with a skill most men lacked.

Jericho knew those lethal bitches in an instant—at one time they had been his allies on ancient battlefields.

The Phonoi.

Rage consumed him at the sight. How dare they attack her! Without any rational thought, he flashed himself to Delphine’s back so that he could protect her while she fought. But the moment he did, the Phonoi vanished.

“Cowards!” he shouted. “What? Are you too afraid to fight someone you know can kick your ass?” But then that was how they operated. They never attacked in the open. They moved like wraiths. Out of the darkness to kill and withdraw.

Scared for Delphine, he turned to face her. There was a vicious cut on the side of her neck that made his anger rise even higher.

“What did they do?”

She grimaced as she dissolved her staff. “They tried to cut my throat. But unless my powers are bound, I’m not helpless.”

Thank the gods for that because he still wanted blood over the attack.

She hissed as she wiped at the wound. “It hurts, though.”

Jericho looked past her to where Madoc had paused near them. “Madoc, can you heal her?”

The Oneroi wasted no time. He placed his hand over the wound and sealed it shut. But his eyes were as worried as Jericho’s. “Who do you think sent them?”

Delphine wiped her hand over her neck and clothes, removing the blood from both. “
Why
would they send them?”