His gaze turned dull, haunted. "After that I took over. I go to them and pretend to be a Dark-Hunter too. I try to explain to them that Acheron hoards nothing and that they are all wrong with their assumptions about the origins of his powers. Usually a majority of them listen to me and go home."
It made sense for Alexion to go in. No doubt if Acheron showed up around Kyros, Kyros would attack him and fight. Ancient men weren't usually known for reasoning their way out of conflict. "They're much more likely to listen to one of their own."
He nodded. "By their very natures, Dark-Hunters are vengeful people. They were wronged in life and to many of them it's easy to believe they were wronged in death. They look for someone to hate."
"Acheron is an easy target."
"Yes. He's more powerful, and all of you know that he hides things from you. So once the kernel of the lie is planted, it takes root and grows into hatred and revolution."
She took a step away from him so that she could think clearly without his presence distracting her, then turned so that she could watch his face. "Then why doesn't Acheron tell the truth? Why does he hide his past from us?"
He shrugged. "When I asked you to have sex with me last night, you rejected me by saying you didn't want to sleep with a stranger. Yet for the first fifty years of your life as a Dark-Huntress, you burned through lovers like-"
She covered his mouth with her hand to silence that sentence. "How do you know that?"
He nipped at her hand with his teeth, causing her to jerk it away. His smile was wicked and warm. "I know many things about all of you. Just as Acheron does."
She didn't like the thought of that. "Did you spy on me?"
"No, but I know you. I have many of the same powers that Acheron has. Just as he can see into your heart and past, I can as well."
Danger tilted her head as she considered that. She wasn't sure she liked being transparent to anyone. Everyone needed to be able to hide parts of themselves. "Then do you know about Acheron's past?"
She saw the shame in his gaze before he moved away from her. "Answer me, Alexion."
He let out a long, tired breath as he returned the DVD boxes to her shelf. "Yes. I discovered his past by accident."
The haunted look on his face told her that he wished he'd never learned it. "It was in the early days when I was first learning to use my powers." He paused shelving the boxes to face her. "I didn't know how to control looking into the past and I stumbled upon his. When he came home, he found the sfora-the scrying orb-in my room. He looked at me and I knew he knew I had seen it."
She'd never known Acheron to be angry, but given the steadfast way he guarded his past, he must have been furious. "What did he do?"
Alexion's gaze dropped to the floor as if he could see that day clearly in his mind. "He came forward and picked the sfora up, then said, 'I guess I should show you how to use this correctly.'"
She blinked in disbelief. "That's it?"
He nodded before returning to put her DVDs up. "I've never spoken of it and neither has he."
"Then what did you's-"
"Ask me nothing about his past," he said, interrupting her before she could ask him that very thing. "Believe me, it's not something you want to know. There are some things that are best left alone."
"But-"
"No buts, Danger. He has good reason for not speaking of his human life. There's no information there that could benefit anyone. But it would hurt him a great deal personally. It's why he doesn't speak of it. He's not hiding some great secret of the Dark-Hunter world. Except for the fact that Artemis doesn't care about any of you. But what good would that do any of you? You're better off with the lie than the truth."
Perhaps that was true. Personally, she could have lived quite happily not knowing Artemis could care less what happened to them. "Then why were we created?"
"Honestly?"
"Please."
He sighed as he put away the last movie. "I already told you. Artemis wanted a hold over Acheron. The only way to get it was to play on his guilt. So she used his own powers against him to create the first Dark-Hunters. She knew Acheron would never turn his back on the innocents who wouldn't have been offered Artemis's bargain had it not been for him."
Alexion pinned her with a menacing glare. "His guilt is what made Acheron went out of his way to make sure that all of you had servants and pay for your work. The Dark-Hunters owe that man everything, and I do mean everything. He pays in blood every time one of you wants to go free, and he suffers every day so that you can all live your cushy little lives of wealth and privilege."
His eyes literally snapped green fire at her. "And I have to say that every time one of you turns on him, it seriously pisses me off. Acheron asks nothing from any of you and that's exactly what he receives. When was the last time one of you even said thank you for his help?"
A twinge of guilt went through her.
He was right. She'd never thanked Acheron for her training or anything else. She didn't think to. If anyone was given thanks for their lives, it was Artemis.
"Why doesn't Acheron tell us the truth?" she asked.
"It's not his way. His ego doesn't require worship or even acknowledgment. All he asks is that you do your jobs and that you don't die."
A tic started in his jaw. "And now to know that Kyros, one of the first who was created, has turned on him... It angers me on a level you can't even begin to comprehend. Of all the Dark-Hunters, he and Callabrax should know that Acheron would never use any of you in his own personal war."
Danger nodded. If Alexion was telling the truth, and to be honest, she was starting to believe him, then it must hurt Acheron to know that Kyros had turned oh him. "Kyros and Brax are legendary."
"Yes, and that is why I have to stop Kyros. More Dark-Hunters will listen to him than anyone else because he's been around for so long."
He made a compelling argument, but she still wanted him to leave her out of it. As she opened her mouth to speak, he got that odd, faraway look again.
"They're back," he said between clenched teeth.
Danger let out a weary breath. "Okay, Carol Anne, enough with the Poltergeist interpretation. If we can't contact them and they're not bothering us, I don't want to know they're watching us, okay?"
He ignored her. "Simi," he growled. "I have serious matters here. I don't need you annoying me. I owe Kyros too much to watch him die, but I can't save him if you distract me."
Danger frowned as two thoughts hit her simultaneously. "You sound like you've been talking to Simi all day."
"I have been. It must be her. She watches for a bit, then goes away only to come back again."
That sounded positively freaky to her, but whatever. "Did you not sleep?"