Styxx laughed at Nick's righteous indignation. He could see why Acheron took a liking to Nick, and it went a long way in explaining why Galen had befriended him.
There's a fire inside you, boy. Even though you walk around like Atlas with the weight of the world on your young shoulders, you do it and still hold on to your dignity.
He'd never understood those words until he met this kid. It was a perfect description of Nick Gautier. And Styxx admired the way the boy watched after his mother and protected her. Theirs was a very special bond, and he liked to think that had his son Galen grown up, he'd be a lot like Nick.
"Ah, crap." Nick dug his phone out.
Styxx held his breath, hoping that wasn't his brother on the phone. If it was, he was busted.
"Hey, Ma. Nah, I'm sitting with Ash at the Cafe P. You need something?" He pulled a pen out of his pants pocket and grabbed a napkin. "Skim milk. Sliced cheese. Bread." He paused and frowned. "Ah, Ma ... do I got to?" He absolutely cringed. "Fine. Girly things I don't want to know about. Gah! No, Ma, don't go there. I am your son, you know? I don't want to know that, either. Love you. Bye." He hung up the phone and sighed. "You don't know how lucky you are that you were born before women had tampons. I swear they were invented for no other purpose than to cause endless hours of shame, humiliation, and torture to men. 'Cause nothing says whipped better than a man in the grocery store holding a giant pink flowered shrink wrapped monstrosity. Least they could do is put them in a plain brown wrapper or unmarked black box or something ubiquitous."
Styxx had no idea what tampons were, but the expression on Nick's face told him that he better not ask. Chalk it up to another thing Dionysus had forgotten to give him the definition to.
Nick shoved the paper into his pocket while he continued to rant. "And why do they always wait until they're down to the last one before they restock? Not like they don't get it once a month on a fairly regular schedule ... If I did that with the toilet paper, she'd slaughter me in my sleep." He growled then got up. "I've gotta make an emergency run. See you later."
Laughing as he ascertained the definition of "tampon," Styxx inclined his head to Nick and watched as the kid disappeared into the crowd. He got up and left a twenty-dollar bill on the table as a tip then headed out.
Nick had no idea how lucky he was to have a mother who loved him the way his did. It was all too rare in the world.
Styxx wandered back to the hotel where they were staying. He'd barely closed the door to their room before Camulus appeared and backhanded him so hard, he broke the sunglasses Styxx had been wearing.
Pain exploded through his head. "What the hell?"
"You lie to me again and I will gut you."
Styxx wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. "You'll have to pick a better threat. I've already had a god gut me. Really don't give a shit about it now."
"Fine. I'll geld you."
He laughed. "Been there and done that, too. Want to try three for three?"
Camulus scowled at him. "You're insane, aren't you?"
At this point, it was a good bet.
But he didn't speak. Rather, he pushed his way past the god and went to get another bottle of beer from the small fridge. He popped the top and sat down on the couch to silently wait for his next assignment.
Something that was growing harder by the day. He was tired of screwing with people's lives. His own had been toyed with enough by the gods that he was getting more and more resentful of what Camulus and Dionysus wanted of him. At the rate they were going, he was about to demand to be returned to his island.
Apollo or no Apollo.
February 21, 2004
Styxx gaped as Camulus appeared with an unconscious, bleeding woman draped over his shoulder. He recognized her as Sunshine Runningwolf, the woman who was Talon's reincarnated wife.
"What did you do?"
Camulus didn't respond as he tossed her down on the bed then used his powers to heal her bullet wound. Next, he tied her, spread-eagle, to the bed.
Fury ripped through Styxx at the sight. "What are you doing." It wasn't a question. It was a demand.
"Making sure she doesn't leave."
"You don't have to tie her up like that."
"Why not?"
It's degrading. But Styxx couldn't say that as memories shredded him. It set off a panic within him so ragged that he could barely breathe for it. He remembered the way he'd been tortured and violated, over and over, while tied down like that.
Unable to stand it, he jerked the knife out of his boot and cut her loose.
Camulus arched a brow. "What do you think you're doing?"
"She won't escape."
"You are overstepping your place, human."
Styxx curled his lip. Apparently he couldn't learn his lesson with the gods, because the next words out of his mouth were extremely stupid. "Fine, Apollo. Do your worst to me."
"What's going on here?" Dionysus asked as he joined them.
Camulus glared at Styxx. "Your pet was about to get his ass kicked."
Styxx snorted. "And yours was about to have his ass handed to him."
Dion made a sound of disgust deep in his throat. "I'm really getting tired of separating you two. Now stop it!" He turned his attention to the unconscious woman on the bed. "Why is she here?" he asked Camulus.
With smug satisfaction, the Gallic war god folded his arms over his chest. "To torture Talon. He has no idea what we're doing to her and it will make him crazy. I literally ripped her out of his arms while he was powerless to stop me."
Styxx could only imagine how nasty the expression was on his own face. Because the minute those words were out of Camulus's mouth, Dionysus zapped him out of the room and into his bedroom so that he couldn't hear their conversation.
Or so they thought.
"Now that's he's gone, Cam, explain yourself. What have you done?"
"I broke in and took her from Talon so that he'd know who holds her. You wanted him out of commission. I assure you, he's going insane from the fear of what I might be doing to her. I'm sure by now he's contacted Acheron. We need them as riled as possible, is that not right?"
"It is. So what are we going to do with her?"
"Rape the shit out of her."
Styxx's sanity told him to stay out of it, but he couldn't. The thought of Camulus doing that to her or anyone ...
He wanted the god's heart in his fist. Before his common sense could prevail, he barged back into the room. "Touch her and I'll tear both your arms off and beat you with them."
Dionysus caught the Gaul before he could attack, and glared at Styxx. "Do I have to put you back in Hades?"
Styxx held Camulus's gaze with his. If he didn't come up with an alternate plan, fast, that bastard would have his way, and as Styxx knew firsthand, while Dionysus might not participate in raping someone, he damn sure wouldn't stop it. He'd merely walk away and leave the human to the perversity of their captor.
No matter what, he wouldn't stand for it.
"I have another idea."
Camulus started for Styxx, but Dionysus caught him again and pushed him back.
"Stay in your corner, Gaul. Let's hear him out." He turned his attention back to Styxx. "Go on."
Styxx forced himself to stay calm. "You want to mind-fuck all of them. Right? That is why I'm here?"
"Yes."
Styxx hesitated. It was the last thing he wanted to do to anyone. But if he didn't, something a lot worse would happen to the woman. "There's a chest in my hut that contains Eycharistisi."
Dionysus's jaw went slack. "How the hell did you get that?"
"It was a gift." Those words stuck in his craw. Estes had left it as a reminder of what he could do to Styxx whenever he wanted and Styxx had kept it to remember why he'd been justified in killing his uncle in cold blood.
Dionysus narrowed his gaze on him in disbelief. "Why do you still have it?"
"I was on a deserted island for the last eleven thousand years. Unless I wanted to screw a wild goat, there wasn't a lot of use for it. And unlike you gods, screwing animals doesn't appeal to me."
Indignant, Dionysus straightened. "For the record, I never did that."
Yeah, right. "Ampelos?"
"Satyrs are half human."