Devil May Cry (Dark-Hunter 11)

"Hey, Sin?"

He paused as he saw his servant Kish coming into the room. Just under six feet tall, Kish appeared to be in his mid-twenties, but in reality the man was almost three thousand years old. Like Sin, he had jet black hair and dark olive skin, only his hair, unlike Sin's, hung just past his shoulders.

Kish froze in place as he saw the woman on the couch. "Uh, boss, whatcha doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

Kish made a face as he scratched at the area right above his left ear. "It's looking pretty kinky. And here's where I should remind you that kidnapping a woman in this day and age, and in this country in particular, is a federal offense."

Sin wasn't amused. "Yes, and in your birth time period, it was a capital offense that resulted in the man's testicles being cut off before he was beheaded."

Kish jerked at the mention of castration and cupped himself. "Yeah and so why are you kidnapping her?"

"Who says I kidnapped her?"

"The fact she's unconscious and tied up... fully clothed. I figure if it was really kinky and she was cooperating, she'd be awake and naked."

Kish did have a point.

He moved forward and looked more closely at her before he glanced back to Sin. "So who is she?"

"Artemis."

"Artemis who?"

Sin gave him a hard stare. "You know. Greek goddess bitch who stole my powers."

Kish let out a nervous laugh. "That's the goddess trussed up like a turkey on your couch. Are you insane?"

"No," Sin said as righteous fury drove him on. "I had an advantage and I took it." His face turned ashen. "And when she wakes up, we're both toast. Burnt toast. Charred toast. Whatever the hell is beyond charred, that's us." He moved his index finger back and forth between them to emphasize their coming doom.

"She's going to kick both our asses. And no offense, I don't want my ass kicked by a goddess... well, Angelina Jolie in a black teddy and spiked heels notwithstanding. Angie-baby could drive those spiked heels all over me, but this..." he gestured toward Artemis. "This will get me painfully disemboweled and that I'd like to avoid at all costs."

Sin shook his head at the man's hysteria. "Calm down before you wet my rug and I take a newspaper to you. She's not going to kick our asses. This net negates her powers. It's how she sucked me dry and left me humiliated."

Kish cocked his head as if he wanted to believe that, but wasn't sure he should. "Are you sure about that, boss?"

"Positive. The diktyon was designed as a trap for gods and immortals. So long as she's held by it, we're fine."

He was still cringing. "I don't think fine is the word I'd use in this situation. More like screwed or dead even. She's not going to be happy about this."

As if Sin gave a shit what she was or wasn't happy about. "Once I have my powers back, it won't matter. She'll be in no position to hurt either of us."

"And how are you going to do that?"

Sin had no idea. He honestly wasn't sure how she'd gotten them to begin with. After she'd given him nectar to drink in her temple, things had gotten fuzzy and he wasn't completely sure what all she'd done to him. His belief was that Artemis had sucked his powers out of him by drinking his blood. Personally, he didn't want to drink her blood-there was no telling what diseases the bitch might carry: rabies, distemper, parvo... But if it would reinstate him, he'd do it.

First he had to find out from her if a blood exchange would work.

He glared at his servant. "Don't you have something to do?"

"If not for the fact it would result in your breaking every bone in my body and making me cry for mommy, I'd be calling some cops. As it stands, I think my neck is best served by trying to talk sense into you."

Sin clenched his teeth. "Kish, if you value your life, get out of here and stay out of here."

But the instant Kish took a step back, a feeling of dread consumed Sin. Kish was too panicked and when panicked people always did incredibly stupid things-like call the cops on an immortal who didn't want to even begin to try and explain why he was holding a woman on his couch in a net.

Or worse, call Acheron who would freak on Sin if he ever learned about this.

So Sin froze him in place.

He stared at Kish's statue with satisfaction. "Yeah, you chill and let me worry about this."

It was for the best and it would keep him from having to kill Kish later. And while he was at it, he sealed his door so that no one else could disturb him.

Kat came awake with her arm aching. She tried to shift her weight off it, only to learn that she couldn't. A feather-light netting covered her. Unfortunately, it was a netting she knew all too well.

Artemis's diktyon.

Disgust consumed Kat over a prank that had grown old centuries ago when another of Artemis's handmaidens had thought trapping her like this was entertaining. Wouldn't the woman ever learn that Kat didn't find this funny?

"All right, Satara, stop with the stupid games and let me up."

But as Kat focused her eyes, she realized that she wasn't at home and Satara wasn't there, laughing at her.

Rather, there was a man, glaring his hatred at her. Again.

She let out a sound of deep aggravation. "What is your damage?"

"Simple. I want my powers back."

Of course he did. What god wouldn't want his powers back? But Lucifer's hell would freeze solid before she ever allowed a psycho like this to have even an inkling of power. "Yeah, well, tough shit."

He curled his lip. "Don't fuck with me, Artemis. I'm not in the mood."

"And neither am I, dumb-ass. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not Artemis."

Sin paused at her words and took a closer look at her. There were small things about her that were different. But the woman held the same green eyes. The same facial features. She was Artemis. He could feel the power emanating from her. "Don't lie, bitch."

She kicked at him, but he sidestepped it. "Don't you dare call me that, dickhead. I don't take that from anyone, least of all someone like you."

"Give me my powers and I'll gladly free you." And he meant that. Once he got his powers returned, he'd kill her and then she'd be free.

"Look, Brick Wall, I can't give you what I don't have. I. Am. Not. Artemis." She clipped each word as she spoke it.

He leaned over her so that she could see just how much contempt he held for her and her feigned conviction. "Yeah, right. Do you think I could ever forget the face that has haunted me for three thousand years? The face of the woman whose throat I want to cut?"

She literally snarled at him like a wild beast, "Get it through your head. I'm not Artemis."

"Then who are you?"

"My name is Kat Agrotera."

It was his turn to scoff. "Agrotera, huh?" He grabbed the netting over her chest and pulled her up so that they were eye to eye.

"Nice try, Artemis. Agrotera means 'huntress'. Did you think I'd forget it was one of the names your followers applied to you? "

She struggled against his hold. "It's also the epitaph that's used by Artemis's kori-that would be me, you moron."

He laughed in her face. "You're one of Artemis's servants? How stupid do you think me? You fooled me once, but not twice."

Kat let out a long breath as frustration consumed her. She actually had the powers to break out of the netting. But if she did that, she'd give him a really big tip on how much power she had and who she really was. That was knowledge a creature like this didn't need to have.

No, it was better to make him think she was powerless and without consequence. "Believe it or not, I am."

He released her to fall back on the sofa before he gave her a repugnant glare. "Uh-huh. Artemis would never allow a kori near her who was her height. Nor one who had her eye color. She's too vain for that. You're too vain."