Styxx (Dark-Hunter 22)

"Nothing at all. I'll keep it with me, just like Artemis keeps Talon's."

"And my body?"

"A body doesn't need a soul to function."

Zarek put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't do it, Sunshine. You can't ever trust a god."

Styxx couldn't agree more. Listen to the Dark-Hunter, woman.

Dionysus pierced Styxx with a glare. Say something to seal this, or I'll bring you back from the dead and turn Apollo loose on you. And believe me, I can do it. You'll spend the rest of eternity chained to my brother's bed and we'll all take turns with you again.

If the words weren't bad enough, the memories he conjured for Styxx were truly horrifying. He flinched in reflex.

Styxx didn't want to do this, but no one would stop his torture. He knew that for a fact.

The only one who had ever saved him was the Atlantean goddess of the hunt who was long dead.

I won't go back. I won't. It was time he looked out for himself.

Swallowing, Styxx met Sunshine's gaze. "Sure you can," he said, hating himself for the lie. "Trusting them is the best thing I ever did."

"I don't know," she breathed. Then he saw the determination clouding her eyes before she nodded. "All right. You lift the curse and I'll give you my soul."

Styxx winced as she condemned herself.

Camulus let out an evil laugh. "Done. Talon has no curse. He can find love all day long."

She smiled.

"But you, my sweet..." He blasted her. "Have to die for me to take your soul."

The shot knocked her back into Zarek's arms. He gaped as her blood ran all over the two of them. "You bastard!"

Styxx started to go to her, but Dionysus held him back.

Apollo, he mouthed then dropped his gaze pointedly to Styxx's groin and licked his lips.

Styxx really wanted to kill them both. But before he could even move, Zarek lifted the woman and ran with her.

A smile curled Styxx's lips. Run, Dark-Hunter. Get her to safety.

If Zarek could make it to Acheron, his brother, who wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire, would save her. He knew it.

No sooner had they left than a bright light flashed through the room, temporarily blinding Styxx. Screams rang out. A wind whipped his clothes and hair around his body as a cloud appeared in the center of the room. In the next second, winged demons came pouring out. With rust-colored flesh and three barbed tails that they wielded like whips, they were a terrifying sight to behold.

Camulus grinned at them. "Go get them, my babies. Kill them all!"

The Celtic demons went after Zarek and Sunshine.

And so did the gods.

Styxx hesitated as he felt Acheron's presence on the premises. He'd forgotten about that ability. As a boy, he'd always been able to tell whenever his brother was nearby.

His throat tightened as he checked his watch and saw that it was almost time.

Strange ... he'd killed hundreds of men in battle. As a boy, he'd killed his own uncle. But the prospect of stabbing Acheron ...

It was harder than he'd have thought possible. But what choice did he have? Especially now that Apollo knew he was alive. If he didn't see this through ...

He couldn't bear to contemplate the alternative.

Acheron had already shown him that he didn't care how Styxx was treated or what happened to him. That Acheron would gladly sit back, ringside, and watch others rape him, and laugh while they did it.

No, it was time to end his own hell. Determined to see this through, Styxx followed the gods down to a locked door. He heard Acheron and Talon on the other side talking to Zarek and Sunshine as they tried to save her life.

The demons began battering the door while Styxx stood back to watch. And listen to Acheron's kindness toward others, like Styxx had done with Ryssa through the walls of his room. A kindness Acheron hadn't shown Styxx since they were seven years old.

It seemed to take forever before they finally broke through. The demons spilled into the room, followed by the gods.

Styxx hung back for just a moment more as Talon jumped up and put himself between them and Sunshine. The tall, blond Celt did love his wife, and Styxx definitely sympathized with that.

Ash rose to his feet, ready to fight.

"It's midnight," Dionysus said with a laugh. "Let the show begin."

Taking a deep breath, Styxx headed in. Camulus's demons moved aside to allow him to walk through them to reach his brother.

Time froze as he finally saw Acheron for the first time since their deaths at Apollo's hands. Acheron looked better, healthier, than he ever had. No one would ever know this proud man was the whipped dog he'd once been. There was no trace of the Acheron who used to hug shadows and glare his hatred at Styxx. No trace of the boy who'd been so abused and tortured that he'd been terrified of trying to escape his uncle's hell.

And yet Styxx knew the truth.

They were both nothing more than used whores ...

Bought, sold, and degraded for coin and entertainment.

"Hello, Acheron." He made sure to keep his voice completely steady and devoid of the hate and grief that surged inside him. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Eleven thousand years or so?" The Dark-Hunter, Talon, gaped at the sight of him and Acheron together.

Ignoring him, Styxx approached Acheron, slowly and steadily.

Acheron's eyes narrowed with warning. "Stand down, Styxx. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. I won't let you release her."

His brother didn't want to hurt him? Since when? Acheron had spent the whole of their human lives doing him harm. Wishing the worst sorts of ills on him.

Why would that change now? Or was it nothing more than empty words used so that Acheron's precious Dark-Hunters wouldn't learn how cruel their leader could truly be?

Styxx's gaze went to Talon who kept turning his head from him to Acheron and back again. He laughed bitterly at a reaction that had once been quite common. "It's like some bad soap opera, isn't it? Good twin, bad twin." He returned his glare to his brother. "But then, we're not really twins, are we, Acheron? We just happened to have shared the same womb for a while." He paused behind Acheron, who tensed noticeably as if he knew what Styxx intended.

He was so close to his brother now that barely a hand separated them. They didn't touch. They didn't have to.

Grief racked Styxx at the memory of their childhood together. At how they would lie, back to back, united against the world. United against everyone.

Brothers, forever and always ...

Now they were enemies.

Forever and always.

How he wished things were different. That Acheron could have found the compassion for him that he'd given to everyone else.

Even Artemis.