The Dark-Hunters (648 page)

“Do we have an accord?” Jericho asked.

Zeus glared at them, but in the end, he knew it was the best offer he would get without a war. A war he might very well lose. “We have an accord.”

Could he have said that with less enthusiasm?
But the point was he had said it.

Madoc inclined his head to Zeus and the other gods before he turned and led their group out of the room.

Jericho released Delphine and retrieved his shield from where it had landed at Artemis’s feet.

Slender and elegant with vibrant red hair, she looked over to Delphine, who was waiting for his return. “If you really love her, Cratus, let her know it every day. And always put her before you and your wants just as you’ve done here today. Take it from someone who knows. Love lost is the hardest burden to shoulder, and it’s one you can never get under.” Those words spoken, she manifested his bow and quiver of arrows that he’d given to her all those centuries ago. He was amazed she’d kept them. “My gift to you. Your aim will always be true and your quiver will never be empty so long as you carry them.”

“Thank you.”

She inclined her head to him and stepped back.

Jericho returned to Delphine’s side and followed the others back to the Vanishing Isle.

As soon as they materialized, Delphine cornered him outside the hall. “Were you really willing to give up your freedom for me?”

He looked away sheepishly.

“Jericho.” She turned his face back toward hers. “Why would you do that?”

Her question irritated him. He didn’t like to be questioned and definitely not over something so … personal. “Why do you think?”

She glared at him. “Because I’m a bossy hag and you’d rather be enslaved to a man you hate than deal with me.”

That made his anger snap even harder. “You know…” He paused as he realized she was teasing him. His anger turned into aggravation. “You’re not funny.”

“I think I’m hysterical and I want to hear from you why you would have made such a bargain.”

Jericho tried to move past her, but she wouldn’t allow it.
She needs to hear it.

She cupped his mouth in her soft hand. “C’mon, sweetie, you can say it.” She moved his mouth playfully. “You don’t suck, Delphine,” she said in a faked deep voice. “I … you. C’mon, Jericho. I only bite in the bedroom. You can do this. I know you’re not really mute.”

But why did he have to say it? Wasn’t it obvious? What more would he have to do to show her how much she meant to him?

But he knew she wouldn’t give him a reprieve.

Not until he put into words what she wanted to hear.

“Because I love you … hag and all.”

“Hag!” She went for him, but instead of hurting him, she tickled his ribs.

Jericho laughed, amazed at her play. No one had ever been so cavalier with him. He caught her against him and kissed her solidly. “Thank you for coming in to back me.”

“No,” she said, sobering instantly, “thank you for defending me.” She poked him sharply in the chest. “But don’t you
ever
do that again. I never want you to put yourself at risk on my account.”

“Why?”

She met his gaze, and the sincerity in those hazel eyes scorched him. “Because I love you, too, and I couldn’t stand being the reason you were hurt or killed.”

He lifted his hand to her lips. “Don’t worry. I won’t ever leave you alone. You get into too much trouble without me.”

She growled at him. “Oh, please. I never got into trouble
until
you.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Um, guys,” Phobos said, sticking his head out of the door, “I hate to interrupt whatever weirdness you two are partaking in, but we have a situation in here you might want to check on.”

Frowning, Jericho led the way into the room to find a new group of Skoti.

Baffled by their appearance, he looked at Madoc for an explanation. “What’s going on?”

Madoc held his hands up and shrugged. “We’re not sure. They just appeared.”

Another burst of light startled them as Nike flashed into the middle of the Skoti. Her back to him, she stood at an awkward angle with her wings drooping.

Jericho took a step toward her, then froze as she turned to face him and he met her gaze.

Nike was gallu.

Madoc and Phobos cursed as they manifested swords to attack.

“No!” Jericho snarled, shoving them away from her. “She’s my sister.”

Madoc looked at him as if he were one pint shy of a gallon. “She’s infected. She’ll kill all of us.”

“I don’t care.” She was still his sister. Jericho armored himself before he approached her.

Snarling, she came at him like a wild animal, slashing at him with her hands and trying to bite him. Her wings fluttered out, but he managed to catch her from behind and hold her there even while her wings slapped at him. She screamed and kicked, then tried to head-butt him.

Even though he was armored, he could still feel her kicks against his shins.

“I need a cage,” he grunted.

Delphine made one the size of a small closet. But it was large enough to hold Nike until they could find some way to help her. “Here.”

Jericho shoved his sister into it and winced at the sight of her white eyes and serrated teeth. Bubbles foamed from her mouth as she reached through the bars to get to them.

Eros and Zarek exchanged a concerned look before they glanced to the Skoti.

Eros scratched his chin. “I’m thinking we should cage them, too, before they go Linda Blair on us.”

One of the younger Skoti stood up. “We’re infected. But with us, it’s slow-acting.”

Jericho scowled. “What?”

“They’re testing a new venom on us to see if they can infect one of us during a fight without our knowing we’re infected. So that once we return home, we can spread it to others.”

How insidious—plus it would make them all suspicious of each other even after they’d fought.

Zarek cursed. “How do we fight this?”

“You have to kill the one who infected them.”

They turned to Jared, who’d spoken in the most deadpan of tones.

“What?” Madoc asked incredulously.

“Zephyra discovered it,” Jared explained. “If you kill the gallu who sired the zombie, the zombie reverts to normal.”

Eros sputtered. “Well, that’s just stupid. Who would have done that?”

“The Egyptian goddess Ma’at. The gallu invaded her domain centuries ago, and she modified them to give her people a fighting chance.”

Madoc shook his head in disgust. “Peachy, just peachy.”

“Yeah,” Eros agreed. “By the way, no one here better tell Ma’at I said it was stupid. She has a nasty temper, and I don’t need a smack-down from her.”

Jericho ignored his random paranoia. “So how do we determine who infected her?”

Zarek shrugged. “Let’s kill them all and let Hades figure it out.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Hades gave him an unamused glare. “For the record, I don’t clean up after you bastards. And no gallu is coming near
my
domain. That’s all I need is a realm full of infected dead. That has Cesar Romero all over it.”

Eros held his hand up. “Uh, Hades, that’s George Romero. Cesar’s the one who used to play the Joker on the ‘Batman’ TV show.”

Hades gave him a flat stare. “Do I look like I care? And how do you know that?”

“Psyche and I go to the movies with Acheron. He’s a major zombie junkie.”

Ignoring their sniping, Asmodeus stepped forward sheepishly. “I’ll find out who infected her.”

Jericho frowned at Asmodeus’s offer. “What?”

“I can get in there without any suspicion. Hopefully, I’ll find the gallu and kill it.”

Delphine shook her head. “Asmodeus—”

“Look, it’s all right,” the demon said, interrupting her. “I know it sounds corny as hell, but all of you have made me feel like part of a team. I’ve never had that before. And I want to do my part to help. If any of the rest of you go in, Noir will kill you. Me … he’ll only torture. Maybe gut and insult. Maybe even some bitch-slapping. But I’m the only hope you’ve got.”

Delphine passed a worried look to Jericho before she returned her gaze to Asmodeus. “We can’t send you in there alone.”

“Eh, I’ll be all right. Noir hates me anyway.”

“But if he suspects you, he’ll kill you.”

The demon shrugged. “Who wants to live forever? Well, for the record, I do, but I want to do this for you.”

Jericho stopped him before he left. He slid the ring off his finger and handed it to him. “Take this.”

Asmodeus curled his lip as he shrank back from it. “I’m not about to marry your ugly ass, boy. No offense, but you ain’t my type. I like my dates with less body hair … and with female parts attached by nature.”

Jericho let out an aggravated growl. “It’s not a wedding ring, asshole. It’s Berith’s ring. You get into trouble, you can summon him to help you get out of there.”

That completely changed his attitude. “Oh, hey, that could be worth an engagement to you.” Asmodeus grinned as he palmed it. “If I’m not back in a few hours … well, I don’t want to think about that. I might change my mind about doing this. I’m thinking happy thoughts. Creamed dog innards and rotten steak. Yeah. Yum.” He vanished.

Delphine wrapped her arm around Jericho’s and did her best not to think about Asmodeus’s parting imagery or the fact that he might really call that cuisine. She didn’t know why, but she strangely liked the demon. He was like their socially stunted illegitimate … cousin. “You think he’ll be all right?”

“He’s not the one we should be worried about.”

They turned toward Hades. “How so?”

“You’re not done with Zeus. I’m sure of it. He won’t attack today, but you guys have publicly embarrassed him and if there’s one thing I know about my brother … he doesn’t deal well with that.”

“It’s all right,” Madoc said. “We’re going to solidify our place here.”

“And you will need to cage us,” another of the Skoti said. “We’ve done enough damage on Noir’s behalf. We don’t want to do any more.”

Jared and Madoc caged them while Delphine considered everything that was happening. She wanted it to slow down, but there was nothing she could do.

It was getting scarier by the minute.

“I’m so sorry about Nike.”

Jericho stared at her, his eyes sad. “Me, too. Dammit, I shouldn’t have been distracted. I should have stayed in Azmodea until I located her.”

“You can’t blame yourself.”

“Then who do I blame? I was the one who left her there.”

“Because you were worried about me,” Delphine whispered. “Had I not been there, you wouldn’t have gotten sidetracked.”

He pulled her against him. “This is definitely not your fault, baby. I made the decision and I abandoned her. I have to have faith in Asmodeus.”

Hades approached them. “I’m returning to the Underworld. Let me know if you need me.”

“We will. Thanks.”

Hades inclined his head before he vanished.

Jericho watched as the others set about cleaning the hall and restoring it to its former beauty. But it was the sadness in Madoc’s eyes that bothered him.

Releasing Delphine, he went to check on the Oneroi. “You okay?”

Madoc started to nod, then shook his head. “I miss my brothers. I’ve never been here without them and I keep wondering what D’Alerian would do if he were here. What he’ll say when he comes back.”

If
he comes back.
But Delphine had taught him not to be callous enough to say that out loud.

“You’re doing a great job.” Delphine came over and patted Madoc’s arm. “Really. No one could do better, and I know D’Alerian would be proud of you and what you’ve done to protect us.”

“Thanks.” He looked down at her and smiled sadly. “By the way, I spoke to Zeth about what Jericho suggested. We’d like for you to be our third leader.”

Delphine was surprised by his offer. “Me?”

Madoc nodded. “But for you, none of us would be here now. You’re the one who saved Jericho and helped to liberate us. Without you, I’d still be chained to the floor.”

Maybe, but Delphine wasn’t used to being a leader of any kind. “I don’t know.”

“You’d be great at it,” Jericho said with a confidence she definitely didn’t feel.

She didn’t know why, but coming from him, the praise meant more than anything. “All right. I’ll try it. But if I screw something up, one of you better help me fix it.”

Madoc laughed. “And we’re going to try something else a little different.”

“What?”

Madoc looked over to Zarek. “We’re going to add two generals. Zarek and Jericho.”

“Oh, goodie,” Eros said sarcastically. “Could you have chosen two surlier people?”

“That’s why they’ll be in charge of our army. May the gods have mercy on whoever pisses them off, because Zarek and Jericho will have none for them.”

Zarek cleared his throat. “You’d better be glad I’m flattered by that. Otherwise I’d gut you.”

Jericho agreed with an angry glower. “Ditto.”

Delphine was smiling as Astrid appeared with a crying toddler. He had eyes so bright a blue she would have thought him a Dream-Hunter had he not had Astrid’s blond hair and looked just like his father … minus the goatee.

Her face distressed, Astrid handed him off to Zarek. “Menoeceus wants his father.”

Zarek glared at her. “Bob is crying because he wants his mother to stop calling him that crap-ass name.” Zarek cuddled the small boy to him as he rocked him gently against his shoulder while he continued to wail. Loudly. “It’s all right, Bob. Daddy’s got you now. I’m saving you from Mommy’s bad naming taste. I’d be crying, too, if my mom named me after an idiot.”

“Menoeceus is a great name,” Astrid said defensively.

Zarek snorted. “For an old man or a feminine hygiene product. Not for my son. And next time
I
get to name the kid and it won’t be something that sounds like meningitis.”

Astrid stood with her hands on her hips, toe to toe with her husband. “You keep that up and next time you’ll be the one birthing it, and don’t mess with me, bucko, I have connections in that department. A pregnant man is not an impossibility in my neighborhood.”

She started away from him.

“Yeah, well, I’ll be glad to birth it if it means I can name him something normal,” Zarek called after her.