Sins of the Night (Dark-Hunter 7)

Xirena shook her head. "She obeys her akri. She must."

"Well," Alexion said slowly, still afraid the Charonte might go back into attack mode. "In her case, her akri obeys her. And neither one of them is listening to me at present."

She scowled at him. "That is not natural. Once a Charonte is bound, it must obey. I refused the bond and am free, but my simi was bound as a small one to the cursed god. She must obey him. She has no choice."

Yeah, right. Never once had Alexion seen it work that way.

"In the case of Simi, I think it's more Acheron is bound to her, not the other way around."

She didn't seem to understand that. "But you can take me to my simi?"

"Yes."

She threw her arms around him and held him close. It lasted for about two heartbeats, before she pulled back and glared at him again. She grabbed him by the throat. "If you are lying to me, worm, I will rip out your brains and eat them all."

Alexion screwed up his face at the thought. Yeah, she was Simi's sister all right. Some things must run in their family. "That is really disgusting and no, I wouldn't lie to you. Not about this."

She turned to look at Danger. "Is she your female?"

"No."

"I'll kill her anyway if you are lying to Xirena."

"I'm not lying."

Danger didn't understand a single word of what they were saying, other than the name Acheron. She watched apprehensively as the demon got up, then helped Alexion to his feet.

"What's going on?" she asked him.

Alexion still looked a bit nervous and shaken. "It appears we have a new friend. Danger, meet Xirena."

Xirena came over to sniff her. She moved much like a bird, cocking her head at strange angles and with jerking movements.

"You are not human," the demon announced. "You have no soul."

"Thank you for the obvious. Did you know you have horns on your head?"

The sarcasm appeared to be lost on the demon.

"Actually, she brings up a good point. Xirena, can you make yourself appear human?"

The demon snarled as if the very thought disgusted her. "Why would Xirena wish to do that?"

"So as not to cause a panic with the other humans," Alexion explained. "Simi does it all the time."

She looked horrified. "Her akri makes her appear as human? That is the worst torture. My poor simi to be so abused!"

"Not really. Simi enjoys it."

She covered her head with her hands as if she were in great pain. "What have you done to my simi?"

Alexion pulled one of her hands away and gave her a meaningful stare. "We have loved her as if she were the most precious thing ever born."

Xirena appeared even more baffled. Two seconds later, she looked like a beautiful blond woman.

Except for one thing.

"Uh," Danger said, pointing to the top of her head, "the horns need to go too."

They vanished immediately.

Xirena moved to the mirror to look at herself. She jumped back and curled her lip. "I look like the Atlantean bitch-goddess." She turned her hair black. "Better."

Danger stared at her. "Is it just me or does she look a lot like Acheron now?"

"Don't ask," Alexion said. "Xirena, I take it you were sent here to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Who sent you?"

She blew a strange-sounding raspberry. "The moron half-god Daimon, Strykerius. He said you were a servant, but you do not bear the mark of a servant on you. You bear the mark of royal family."

Alexion was surprised by that. Acheron had never explained the sign to him except to say that he had to bear it in order to live. "Really?"

"Did you not know?" the demon asked.

He shook his head.

Xirena sighed. "Humans, even those who are no more, are stupid."

He ignored her very Simi-like words. There was a lot more to her presence here and he wanted to understand it. "Why does Stryker want me dead?"

"I do not know. Does the reason matter? Dead is dead. Who cares why when what matters is avoiding it, yes?"

She had a really good point with that. "Why did you agree to kill me?"

Xirena drew herself up and gave him a harsh look. "I thought the cursed god had abused my sister. That he had harmed her or mistreated her. She was not old enough to be sent out. The bitch-goddess knew this and yet she took her from me, even while I fought her to keep my simi safe. My simi was barely more than an infant and unable to fend for herself. I have hated the goddess ever since for it."

Danger held up her hand to get their attention. "Just out of curiosity, is Acheron the cursed god?"

Alexion cringed.

"Yes," Xirena said before he could stop her.

"And the bitch-goddess?" Danger asked.

"Apollymi."

Alexion told Xirena to stop in Charonte, but she didn't listen.

"The Daimon queen?" Danger asked again.

"Daimon queen?" Xirena made a sound of complete contempt. "No. She is the Destroyer of all things. The bringer of plagues and pestilence. She is the force that will end the world for all time. She is the ultimate in power and destruction. Her will is divine law."

Danger looked thrilled by that. "Oh, goodie. That's just what I wanted to hear."

"Relax," Alexion told her. "Apollymi's contained. She's not going to destroy anything in the near future... I hope."

Danger only heard part of that. The rest of her thoughts returned to what Xirena had said a few moments ago. "So Ash is a god and not a Dark-Hunter. Is that what you've been protecting?"

A tic worked in Alexion's jaw.

"You might as well admit it. That's what the demon said, and unless I'm stupid, which I'm not, he is a god."

Alexion gave her a harsh, penetrating stare. "No one can ever know that about him. He'll have a fit of titanic proportions, and trust me, a pissed-off god is not something to relish."

Danger let out a long, exasperated breath. Suddenly everything was clear to her for the first time ever.

"You know, Ash as a Daimon made a lot of sense. But this... this explains everything, doesn't it?"

He looked away from her. No wonder he was sworn to secrecy.

But why wouldn't Ash tell them? What was the point of keeping that to himself?

And as her mind grappled with this new tidbit, she thought of what Alexion had told her about Ash and Artemis's relationship. "That's why Artemis needed us, huh? She can't just command another god without some major leverage."

"No, she can't."

She had to say that it sucked to be said leverage. Poor Acheron, to be controlled by them. It was a wonder he didn't hate every one of them. But for them, he would be free. "So we are her pawns while she and Acheron play games with each other."

"No," Alexion said, his sincerity burning into her. "Acheron never uses human life as a pawn. Ever. He doesn't find anything entertaining about playing with people."

He sighed. "But Artemis isn't so kind. She doesn't understand humanity the way Acheron does."

"How is it he's so fortunate?"

"He lived as a human," he said simply. "That's the cursed part Xirena refers to. He was born as a human baby and he died brutally as a human man."

That didn't make sense to her. "But he's a god."

"A cursed god."

"Why was he cursed?" Danger asked.

The veil fell over his face. "That is something best left undiscussed. He'll be angry enough over this little bit having escaped. Let's not tweak him any more, shall we?"

Xirena's attention pricked up at that. "Is he an angry god, like the Destroyer?"

"No," Alexion assured her, "he's remarkably calm ninety-nine percent of the time. It's that one percent, though, that's a killer... literally."

The demon nodded as she poked at the television. "Your warning is taken."

"So what are we going to do with her?" Danger asked, indicating the demon with a tilt of her head.

"That's a really good question and I have absolutely no answer for it. I'm completely open to suggestions of any sort." Alexion sighed. What could they do with the demon? Simi had spent a lot of time around humans and she was still less than civilized.

Xirena...

He paused that thought as she shattered the television.

Xirena stared at it in horror. "Why did that break?"

"You can't slam your fist into the screen," he explained.

"Why not?" she asked in a voice that sounded eerily close to Simi's.

"It breaks," Danger answered.

"But why?"

Danger placed her hand against her temple as if she were beginning to feel a pain there. "Is this normal demon behavior?"

He nodded. "Just wait. This is very mild. It gets a whole lot worse."

"Great. I'm really looking forward to it."

Xirena picked up the remote to place it in her mouth. Alexion grabbed it away from her. "Plastic isn't good for demons."

Xirena glared at him. "How do you know?"

"It gives Simi a bellyache every time. Trust me. It's just not a good Charonte snack."

As Danger watched the demon explore the hotel room, a thought occurred to her. "You know, I think we can return to my house now."

"How so?"

She tilted her head toward Xirena. "We have our own demon now, right?"

Alexion smiled as he understood her meaning. "If the other one is still there, she can wrangle him out."

"Yep. Let's check out of here and go on a demon hunt, shall we?"

The drive back to Tupelo was positively boring, except for when the demon discovered the radio. She almost caused Danger to wreck as she leaned over the front seat, playing with the stations.

With every new song, Xirena tried to sing the words, which she didn't know.

Worse, she couldn't sing on key at all.

Danger glanced over to Alexion who took it all in stride.

"Aren't you going deaf?" she asked him.