Sins of the Night (Dark-Hunter 7)

Chapter 13

Kyros entered his house, his hands still shaking. He couldn't believe what he'd seen tonight. What he'd heard. Marco had been slain.

And Ias was alive.

Ias had been alive for all these centuries.

Rage and grief battled relief and happiness. He was so confused by his emotions that he didn't know what to feel or think. Part of him wanted to embrace his old friend.

As men, they had been closer than mere brothers. There was a special bond that came from entrusting your life to another man's hands, a bond that came from him entrusting you with his. It was communal and unbreakable. They had shared that.

How many times had they fought together? Starved on the long marches to and from battle? When one had fallen from wounds, the other had stood over him and battled the attackers off until the fight ended. Then the one standing had rendered medical aid to the other.

Back to back, they had fought countless times, keeping one another safe.

He owed Ias more than could ever be repaid by coin or by deed. It was that part of himself that was ecstatic that Ias was alive.

But the other part of him was so betrayed, so hurt. How could Ias have survived and not told him?

How?

Why hadn't Acheron ever mentioned it? He more than any other knew just how much Ias's death had torn him apart. In the beginning, the loss of Ias had been more than he could bear. He'd felt so responsible. If he had told Ias about his wife, then his friend wouldn't have made the tragic mistake of thinking she loved him. But he'd known that knowledge would have destroyed Ias, who loved Liora more than anything else.

Even his own life had been forfeit because he'd kept silent. He'd died protecting Ias from Lycantes, who'd been Liora's lover, the first time Lycantes had gone for Ias.

Why didn't I ever tell him?

For centuries he had carried that guilt and second-guessing on his shoulders like Atlas. There had been very few nights over the last nine thousand years when remorse hadn't gnawed at him.

Every time a Dark-Hunter had talked about the possibility of going free, of having a lover drop the medallion that contained their soul before it was returned to them, he'd remembered his friend.

More than that, Ias had been the one who had given all the Dark-Hunters their out clause. Without Ias, Artemis or Acheron or whoever had come up with it wouldn't have permitted them to regain their souls or go free. Ever.

But in spite of it all, Kyros knew one thing, Ias wouldn't lie to him. It wasn't in his friend to do such a thing. His friend had never been anything but honorable:

But was this Ias the same one who had been mortal?

"What are you doing?"

Kyros looked to see Stryker standing just inside the doorway of his office where he was headed. With a nonchalance he didn't feel, Kyros pushed past him and sat behind his carved mahogany desk in a burgundy leather chair. "I'm contemplating."

"Contemplating what?"

He pinned the Daimon with a murderous glare. "Did you know the destroyer was once my best friend?"

Stryker paused as those words hit him like cast stones. Now there was something he hadn't seen coming. He'd always wondered where the Alexion had come from.

But let's face it, Acheron wasn't really into sharing any kind of information with him, especially nothing Stryker might be able to use against him. That was the shame about enemies. They were ever tight-lipped.

But his mind whirled with this newfound knowledge. So the Alexion had once been human... And he had known Kyros...

Good. He could work with this.

"You must be feeling very betrayed right now," Stryker said in a calculatedly sympathetic voice. "Did he say anything to you?"

"He said he came to save me from following you"

Stryker kept his face blank. He had to play this carefully if he were going to pull it back from the fire that was waiting to engulf it and ruin all his plans.

"Interesting."

So, the Alexion wanted to save Stryker's pawn from death. This could be extremely beneficial. The Alexion would think twice before he damned his friend to Shadedom and it would give Stryker a pawn to use against him. Surely the Alexion wouldn't kill the very man he'd come to save.

Oh, yeah, this was very good news indeed. "You do know he's lying to you, correct?"

Kyros shook his head as he leaned back in his chair. "I don't think so."

"Don't you?" Stryker asked as he moved forward to push aside the black leather pencil cup. He sat on a corner of the desk. "Use your head, Kyros. He claims to be your friend, but where has he been all these centuries?"

"He said he couldn't make contact."

"Couldn't or wouldn't?"

Kyros's eyes narrowed on him. "Just say what you're going to say, Stryker. I'm in no mood for your bullshit right now."

"Fine," he said, leaning forward to meet Kyros's gaze levelly. "What I have to say is this. If he really is your friend, where has he been all this time while you've been languishing in the backwoods of hell? How many times have you requested Acheron move you from Mississippi into an urban area where there is something going on other than a keg party? And how many times has your request gone unanswered?"

Kyros looked away from him. "Ash had his reasons."

The poor pathetic little fool. He had no idea what he was dealing with when it came to either Acheron or himself.

"Did he?" Stryker asked. "Or was it your friend who refused your request? Think about it, Kyros. Acheron is a busy man who doesn't have time to oversee all the thousands of Dark-Hunters out there that he has created to destroy us. Who would he defer to in such matters? Hmm?"

Stryker didn't give him time to answer. He didn't want Kyros to formulate a logical argument before he planted doubts in his mind. "His right hand, that's who. The one he trusts above all others to carry out his orders."

He tsked. "Hell, the Alexion even has the ability to command part of my brother's powers. There are some of us who believe that your friend, the Alexion, even shares the blood of Acheron. So you know it's your so-called friend who has been responsible for your assignments. He was the one who didn't think you deserved to be around more people. And even if he wasn't the one making the decision, surely such a friend would have the ability to sway Acheron's mind and intervene to save you long before now. Wouldn't he?"

He saw the uncertainty in Kyros's eyes and forced himself not to smile in victory.

"They're both playing you, Kyros. Think about it. This is just another mind fuck. They're off laughing at you right now. This instant. Both of them. The Alexion is here to kill you all, not save you. If he'd really wanted to save you, he would have given you a decent assignment in a thriving city long ago. But he didn't, did he?"

Stryker tried to look sympathetic. "Trust me, there won't be a single Dark-Hunter left alive in this area once he returns to Acheron unless you kill the Alexion first."

Stryker slid off the desk, moving closer to him. "Already you've seen his work. Wasn't Marco where I told you he would be?"

"Yes."

Good, his Daimons had done what they were supposed to. "Was he not killed how I told you?"

"Yes."

"And was the Alexion not there?"

Kyros nodded. "Everything you've told me has come to pass."