Savitar twisted out of a nasty-looking headlock. "Hey, aren't we forgetting something?"
"Your dignity?"
Savitar rolled his eyes. "No, you have me confused with you again." He pointed to where Acheron sat. "Aren't you supposed to be training him?"
Takeshi let out a taunting breath. "So you admit my superiority by deflecting my attention to the neophyte . . ."
"I'm not admitting shit. I'm merely pointing out the fact that you and I know how to fight and he doesn't. Might be a good idea for him to learn."
"True." Takeshi put his sword across his shoulders where he held it with both hands and smiled at Acheron. "Are you ready to begin again?"
"Sure. My ego's had enough time to recover a modicum of dignity. Let's make sure we crush it again before I mistake myself for a god."
Takeshi laughed. "I like him, Savitar. He fits with us."
"That's why I called you." Savitar handed his sword to Acheron. "Good luck, kid."
"Thanks."
Acheron spent the rest of the day training with Takeshi who had to be the worst taskmaster ever born. He worked him until Acheron was sure he'd drop from sheer exhaustion. By the time the sun set and he was free to rest, his entire body ached.
Even so, he felt more confident in his skills than he'd ever felt before.
Savitar handed him his staff. "Go home to Katoteros and we'll begin again in the morning."
Still unsure why Savitar was helping him, he wished the older . . . being . . . good-night and returned home.
Acheron pulled up short as he saw Artemis waiting in the throne room for him. "What do you want?"
"I haven't seen you in days."
"And what a beautiful thing they have been."
She narrowed her gaze. "I told you that you'd have to feed from me."
Acheron looked at her coldly. "I think I'd rather be a sadistic monster . . . like you."
She curled her lip at him. "So that's it then. You're just going to be mean to me."
"Mean to you? Mean?" He repeated angrily. "Fuck you, Artemis!" His words were punctuated by a blast of wind so strong, it knocked her onto her ass on the floor. He stalked toward her and saw the fear in her eyes. There was a time when that fear would have ignited guilt and compassion within him. Today it just pissed him off. "I was butchered on the floor by your brother while you watched it happen. Then, when I was finally happy someplace, gods forbid, you tricked me into drinking your blood to bind me to you. And you think I'm mean? Bitch, please, you haven't seen mean yet."
She covered her ears with her hands and cringed on the floor.
That actually succeeded in turning his anger away from her to him since he had a twinge of pity for her and he hated himself for it. She didn't deserve his pity. Only his contempt.
"I loved you, Acheron."
He scoffed. "If what you've shown me is love, I'd rather you hate my guts and be done with me."
She burst into tears.
Acheron leaned his head back and cursed at the fact that those tears affected him. Why did he care? What the fuck was so wrong with him that he actually wanted to comfort her?
I'm even more defective than she is.
He slammed his staff down on the floor, making her cry even harder. "What do you want from me, Artie?"
"I want my friend back."
"No," he said bitterly. "You want your pet back. I was never your friend. Friends aren't ashamed of each other. They don't live in fear of other people seeing them together."
She looked up at him with her green eyes swimming in tears. "I'm sorry. There, I said it. I wish I could go back and repair everything that's happened. But I can't. I wish I could save our nephew. I wish that I'd been more decent to you. I wish . . ." She paused, but it was too late. He'd heard it loud and clear.
"That I'd never been a whore. Trust me, what you feel about that is a pittance compared to my sentiments. You were never the one they degraded and used. I'm the one who has to live with that past. Not you. You should be grateful those nightmares don't haunt your sleep."
"I have my own nightmares, thank you."
Perhaps she did. After all, she was the pitiful child who had to tolerate Apollo.
She looked up at him. "Food can't sustain you anymore, Acheron. You don't even have to eat human food again. But you do have to feed from me or you will revert to the Destroyer's Harbinger. You will have no compassion for the world and you will destroy it."
A muscle worked in his jaw. He wanted to call her a liar, but he knew the truth. He already felt those violent urges inside him. And he hated her for this "gift."
Cursing, he held his hand out to her.
She took his hand and he jerked her to her feet and into his arms. Then, just as he started to ravage her throat, he pulled back and bit into her gently.
At the end of the day, he wasn't a monster. He wouldn't brutalize her even if she did deserve it.
He'd made her a promise and though he may have been a thief and a whore, he wasn't a liar. He wouldn't serve to her what she'd served to him. He would always be better than that.
Artemis sighed as she felt Acheron's powers surging around her. His skin marbled to blue while he drank. The heat of his breath on her flesh ignited her desire, but when she tried to remove his clothes, he stopped her.
"I'm in no mood to play with my food, Artemis."
She closed her eyes as she heard his voice in her head.
When he'd taken his fill, he stepped away from her. His eyes were blazing red as he wiped the blood from his lips. "I need time away from you."
Those words sliced through her. "What are you saying?"
"Send a kori to me with your blood."
"No."
This time, he turned on her with all his powers ignited.
Artemis shrank away at the sight of his true god form. He was massive and terrifying.
"You will do as I command," he snarled through his fangs. "You brought me back against my will and you will not tell me how to live this new life. Do you understand?"
She nodded slowly as her heart broke again over what she'd lost. "While you're telling me what to do, you should know that when I brought you back, Styxx came with you. And he's filled with even more fury and hatred than you are."
Acheron cursed at the mention of his twin. "Where is he?"
"He's on the Vanishing Isle, under the care of a god who owes me a favor. He can't harm anyone where he is and he's in a good place with his every desire fulfilled."
"Then leave him there. I have no wish to ever see his face again."
"Rather difficult, isn't it?"