Devil May Cry (Dark-Hunter 11)

She, on the other hand, moved to the other side of the room, far away from him.

"What are you doing, Artemis?"

"I had something to tell you."

"Have," he corrected. "And yes, we've already ascertained this. What is it?"

"You're getting angry."

Disgust filled him that she was continuing to play this game.

"You didn't make me promise not to."

"Only because I knew you would and then you'd die."

" Artemis! "

"Fine," she said in a huff. "Don't shout at me. I can't stand it when you do that."

"I'm about to do more than shout."

"Okay, be that way. Do you remember when you were first brought back from the dead?"

Remember it? It haunted him daily. It'd been one of the more painful moments in a life marked by agony. "What about it?"

"Well ..." Biting her lip, she twisted her hand in her gown.

"There were months where you wouldn't come to my temple even though I tried to summon you."

"Yes. I was just a little pissed at what you and your brother had done to me."

"But I want you to remember that I did do my best to summon you."

She was a little too eager about this for his tastes, but he sought to ease her stress in spite of the fact that what he really wanted to do was choke her. "I remember, Artemis. You damn near drove me insane with your insistent shrieking that I come to you."

"And when you finally came, do you remember what happened?"

Ash let out another frustrated breath. He could see that moment clearly. Artemis had met him outside her temple here in her forest. He'd stood in the center of a clearing, glaring at her. He'd been hungry and furious, and he'd wanted her blood in the worst sort of way.

She'd approached him cautiously that day as if terrified of him.

"Please don't be angry at me, Acheron."

He'd laughed bitterly. "Oh, 'angry' doesn't even begin to describe what I am at you. How dare you bring me back."

She'd gulped. "l had no choice."

"We all have choices."

"No, Acheron. We don't."

As if he'd believed it. She'd always been selfish and vain and no doubt that was the only reason he'd been brought back when he should have been left dead. "Is this why you've been summoning me? You want to apologize?"

She' d shaken her head. "I'm not sorry for what I've done. I would do it over again in a heart pound."

"Beat," he'd snarled.

She' d waved the word away with her hand. "l want there to be peace between us."

Peace? Was she insane? She was lucky he didn't kill her right now. If it weren't for fear of what could happen to the innocent, he would have.

"There will never be peace between us. Ever. You shattered any hope of it when you watched your brother kill me and refused to speak up on my behalf."

"l was afraid."

"And I was butchered and gutted on the floor like an animal sacrifice. Excuse me if I don't feel your pain. I'm too busy with my own." He'd turned to leave her then, but she'd stopped him.

It was then he heard the muffled whimpering of a baby. Scowling, he'd watched in horror as Artemis withdrew an infant from the folds of her peplos.

"l have a baby for you, Acheron."

He'd jerked his arm away from her as fury singed every part of him. "You bitch! Do you honestly think that could ever replace my nephew you let die? I hate you. I will always hate you. For once in your life, do the right thing and return that to its mother. The last thing a babe needs is to be left with a heartless viper like you."

She'd slapped him then with enough strength to split his upper lip. "Go and rot, you worthless bastard."

Laughing, he'd wiped the blood away with the back of his hand while he stared venomously at her. "l may be a worthless bastard, but better that than a frigid whore who sacrificed the only man to ever love her because she was too self-absorbed to save him.

The look on her face had scorched him. "I'm not the whore here, Acheron. You are. Bought and sold to anyone who could pay your fee. How dare you think for one minute you were ever worthy of a goddess."

The pain of those words had seared a permanent place in his heart and soul. "You're right, my lady. I'm not worthy of you or anyone else. I'm just a piece of shit to be dumped naked in the street. Forgive me for ever sullying you. "

And then he'd vanished from her, and for two thousand years he'd avoided any and all contact with her. The only thing he'd accept from her was vials of her blood so that he could eat and live.

If he'd had his way, he'd have never seen her again. But then she'd used the powers she'd stolen from him to create the Dark-Hunters under the guise of using them to protect the humans from the Daimons Apollo had created. The reality was, she'd used the Dark-Hunters to tie Acheron to her forever and to force him to come and barter with her for their freedom.

They were the only reason he had anything to do with her.

Them and the guilt he felt over their creation.

Damn them all for it.

But that was the ancient past and it was best left alone. "Why are you dredging up such bitter memories now, Artemis?"

And as soon as the words left his lips, he had sudden clarity. "I have a baby for you, Acheron."

Ash stepped back as disbelief and pain slammed him hard in the stomach. "The baby... "

Artemis nodded. "She was your daughter."