Devil May Cry (Dark-Hunter 11)

CHAPTER TWO

Sin flashed himself back to his hotel room even though he could have just as easily taken himself home. Right now he didn't want Kish or Damien to bother him. He needed his space and time alone to prepare himself mentally for what he had to do.

He was coated in blood, and though there had once been a time when he would have reveled in it, those days were past. Now he was tired of the never-ending battles. Tired of fighting in a war he knew he couldn't really win.

There was only one person whose blood he wanted on his hands. One person whose blood would make him rejoice to feel its stickiness coating his flesh.

Artemis.

The mere thought of cutting her head from her body brought a smile to his face as he made his way into the bathroom for a long, hot shower.

After turning the water on, he dropped his weapons to the floor, where they landed with a heavy thunk, and stripped while he waited for the water to heat. As soon as it was scalding hot, he stepped inside and let the water rinse him clean. The fighting had left him gritty and covered with sweat and blood-his and theirs. Dipping his head down, he watched as all of it slid from his flesh to the tile and then circled down the drain.

The heat felt good against his sore muscles. But it did nothing to alleviate his troubled thoughts.

The Kerir or Reckoning, as some called it, was coming and he still had to find the Hayar Bedr or Forsaken Moon before the gallu demons found him and destroyed him. Without the Moon, Sin stood no chance whatsoever of beating them back.

Not that he had much of one even with the Moon, but that sliver was infinitely better than no hope whatsoever.

Sin ground his teeth as he envisioned the Kerir in his mind. At midnight on New Year's Eve as people rushed to celebrate, the seven Dimme demons that Anu had created to avenge their fallen pantheon would be freed. The only one who could fight them was Sin, and since he no longer possessed his god powers, he didn't have a hope in hell of succeeding in beating the Dimme back.

May the gods, ancient and new, have mercy on them all. "Damn you, Artemis," he snarled. The stupid bitch. By one act of selfishness, she'd condemned them all. And she didn't even care. She thought her own godhood would protect her from the demons to come.

She was such a fool.

Why do you even bother? All fighting would do was prolong his own death. But it wasn't in him to just stand aside and do nothing while innocent people were killed. Do nothing while the earth was overrun and destroyed. No, he'd been fighting back the gallu demons for too many centuries to just cede the earth to them without taking out as many of them as he could.

They were hard kills, but the Dimme...

They would rip him apart and laugh while they did so. Sighing, he turned the water off and reached for a towel. He paused as he saw the latest scar on his hand. Damn them for it. Unlike the Daimons the Greek god Apollo had cursed to live by stealing human souls, the gallu could turn humans into one of them. The poison in their bite could infect even Sin and make him a demon as well. It was why he had to burn the poison out every time it invaded his body. Why he had to make sure to behead the creatures and burn their bodies. It was the only way to completely destroy the poison and to keep them from regenerating.

They were prolific breeders. One bite, one blood exchange... that was all it took. They didn't have to kill humans to turn them into demons. But the gallu enjoyed the killing so much that they usually did it just for shits and giggles. Once infected, the deceased human quickly lost control of their id to the gallu, who could command the human to do anything they wanted. The humans then became mindless blood slaves.

Or worse.

Eleven thousand years ago, there had been designated warriors sanctioned by the Sumerian gods who had been trained to fight the gallu off. When the number of those warriors had fallen and they'd become all but extinct, Sin and his daughter and brother had trapped the gallu to keep them from preying on humanity. But over time, and after the death of the Sumerian pantheon, the gallu had begun working their way free of their prison. They'd also become smarter and more organized.

Now they were trying to find the artifacts Sin's brother had hidden to help awaken the Dimme, hoping that the Dimme would reward them for their loyalty. And the Dimme probably would.

Yeah, in three weeks' time it was seriously going to suck if you were human.

Sin towel-dried his hair. There was no use thinking about it tonight. He'd found the Tablet of Destiny. Tomorrow, he'd seek the Moon. Until then he needed a few hours of rest.

Completely naked, he tucked himself into the bed and tried to put the night out of his mind. But it was no use. He could picture the gallu gathering their forces. See them turning the humans into creatures like themselves. It wouldn't take them long to overrun the world. Mother would turn on child, brother on brother. Theirs was a blood hunger that knew no satiation. The ultimate weapon, they'd originally been created to combat the Sumerian pantheon's enemies.

Specifically, they'd been created to battle against the Charonte demons that Sin's father had been convinced would one day destroy them all. What his pantheon had never envisioned was the day when Atlantis would be destroyed and her Charontes along with her. With no other demons to keep them in check, the gallu had turned their attention and hunger on the humans.

They'd laid waste to entire cities before Sin, Ishtar, and Zakar had corralled them. Sin could still see the bodies of the slain humans rising up as mindless demons to fight.

But more than that, he could see his own children turning on him...

Sin growled as he banished those memories. They would do nothing but cut him more deeply. And he'd been cut enough. The past was gone.

He had a future to fight for and he'd need all his strength for it.