It was near midnight when Ash left Club Runningwolf's.
Where the hell was Talon? He should be out on the streets, patrolling.
Ash had been trying to reach him for hours.
He called Nick again only to find out that Nick had neither seen nor heard from Talon either.
This was so unlike the Celt. He could sense that Talon was all right and not hurt, and if he wanted to, he could track Talon down. But Ash had never been that intrusive with his powers. Having been hunted and stalked, he couldn't bear to do that to anyone else. Not unless it was a dire emergency.
Free will was not something he would tamper with lightly.
As Ash returned the phone to his jacket, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
"Look how helpless she is..."
"Yes, but she's strong enough to feed us all."
The voices whispered through his mind much like Spider-Man's spidey-sense...
And the wall-crawler thought he had super powers.
Pah-lease.
Ash closed his eyes and located the source of the voices. Four male and two female Daimons were in an alley off Royal Street. He started for his motorcycle, then stopped himself. There was no way he'd reach them in time by conventional means.
Glancing around, he made sure no one could see him, then he gathered the ions in the air around him. He let his body disintegrate into nothingness and used his powers to bend the physics of time and matter.
Unseen, he whispered through the city, straight to the alley where they had a woman cornered. She stood cringing, surrounded by the Daimons, her arms wrapped about her.
"Please don't hurt me," she begged. "Just take my purse and leave me alone."
The tallest Daimon raked his hand through her hair and smiled evilly. "Oh, this won't hurt. Not for long anyway."
Acheron solidified. He summoned a shield for the woman, to protect and confuse her. In her mind, she would see and remember an unknown figure scaring her attackers away.
In reality, he whistled.
The Daimons turned toward him in unison.
"Hi," he said nonchalantly as he walked toward them. "You Daimons wouldn't happen to be planning on sucking the soul of an innocent human, now would you?"
They looked at each other, then started to run.
"Oh, I don't think so," Ash said, throwing another shield up behind them to keep them from fleeing the alley. "No Daimon gets out of here alive."
They hit the invisible wall and rebounded off it.
"Man," Ash said, feigning a cringe. "It really makes you feel for the bug on a windshield, doesn't it?"
They scrambled to their feet.
The tallest of them, who was almost even in height to Ash, narrowed his eyes. "We're not afraid of you, Dark-Hunter."
"Good. It makes the fight more fair that way." Ash spread his hands out, creating a staff with his thoughts.
The male Daimons rushed him at once while the women backed away.
Acheron flipped the first Daimon to reach him over with his staff, then rammed the tip of it into the second. He embedded one end of the staff into the concrete and used it to balance as he jumped up and kicked at a third. He released the blade from the toe of his boot and sent it straight into the Daimon's chest. The Daimon disintegrated.
Ash landed gracefully on the street while the first two pushed themselves up and the other two backed off.
"Oh, come on, girls," he taunted them. "Don't be bashful. At least I give you a fighting chance, which is more than you give your victims."
"Look," the leader said, his voice shaking. "Let us go and we'll give you some important information."
Ash scoffed. "What information could you possibly have that would be worth me letting you go so that you could kill more humans?"
"It's worth it," another one said. "It's about-" His words broke off into a strangled cry.
Before Ash could move, all the Daimons disintegrated.
For the first time in centuries, he was too stunned to move.
What the hell just happened?
The human woman came flying up from her crouch and launched herself into his arms. "You saved me!"
Ash frowned. He couldn't figure out how she could see him until she kissed him passionately.
"Dammit, Artemis," he snarled, pushing her away. "Get off me."
She made an irritated noise low in her throat. Releasing him, she flashed from her blond human disguise into her fiery goddessness. Her auburn hair curled around her shoulders as she stood, hands on hips, and pouted at him. "How did you know it was me?"
"After eleven thousand years, don't you think I know what you taste like?"
Sulkily, she folded her arms over her chest. "If I'd been a real human, I bet you would have slept with me tonight."
He sighed disgustedly and allowed his staff to fade into vapor. "I don't have time for your petty jealousy. You know, I do have other things to take care of."
She licked her lips and stepped to his side, then trailed her hand over his shoulders. She leaned to whisper in his ear. "I'm one of those things you need to take care of, love. Come home with me, Acheron. I'll make it well worth your while." She ran her tongue around his ear, raising chills over his body.
Ash shrugged her away. "I have a headache."
"You've had a headache for two hundred years!"
He looked at her dryly. "And you've had PMS for eleven thousand."
She laughed at that. "One day, my love, one day..."
Ash put a little more room between them. Enough so that she couldn't casually run her hands over his body. "Why are you here?"
She shrugged. "I wanted to see you fight. I just love the way you get all serious and lethal. The way your muscles ripple when you move. It really turns me up."
For once he didn't bother to correct her misuse of American slang. Instead, his vision turned dark that she would manipulate him like this. He hated the games she played, especially when they involved the lives of other people. "So you created Daimons out of nothing and then killed them?"
She closed the distance between them. "Oh no, they were real. And I'm not the one who zapped them. Believe me, I love the way your body moves when you attack. I would never give them in while you fought."
"You mean 'take them out'?"
"Mmm... in... out..." Artemis nipped at his shoulder while she ran her hands down his chest. "You keep talking like that and I will take you home with me."
His head was starting to pound. He removed her hand from his crotch where she cupped him. "Artie, could you stay focused for a minute? If you didn't zap them, who did?"
"I don't know."
He moved away from her. Again.
She stamped her foot like a child who just had her favorite toy taken away and glared at him. "I hate it when you mess up your hair, and what is this thing you have in your nose?"
Ash felt the stud vanish and the hole close. He clenched his teeth. No doubt his hair was blond again too. "Dammit, Artemis, you don't own me."
Her eyes flashed dangerously. "You belong to me, Acheron Parthenopaeus," she said, her voice full of rage and possession. "All of you. Mind, body, and soul. Don't you ever forget it."
He narrowed his eyes. "You have no real hold over me, Artie. We both know that. When all is said and done, my powers make a mockery of yours."
"Oh no, love. So long as your Dark-Hunter army and the humans they protect mean more to you than you do, I will always have power over you." She smiled coldly at him, then flashed out of the human realm.
Ash cursed and felt a childish impulse to send a lightning bolt slashing through the alley. No doubt she was trying to lure him back to her temple.
Like an idiot, he was going to go. He had to. He still didn't know who had zapped the Daimons, and if it wasn't Artemis, then there was someone else toying with him.
And woe to any other fool who dared to cross him. He tolerated Artemis because he had to.
He didn't have to put up with anyone else. And by Archon's thorny hammer, he'd tear the head off the next person who annoyed him.
"So," Sunshine said to Talon as she sat on his bed wearing nothing but a borrowed T-shirt, her legs tucked up under her. "Are you planning on keeping me here forever, or what?"
Lying on his side, he picked through the platter she had made for them until he found the M&M's he had insisted she include. "Depends. Do you plan to keep making me eat this healthy crap or can I have the leftover steak out of the fridge?"
She wrinkled her nose at him as she munched another strawberry. It still amazed her that she had found his small, secret stash of fresh fruit in the bottom drawer of his refrigerator. The man seemed to have an aversion to eating anything nontoxic.
"I don't see how you stay healthy eating the garbage you have in your cabinets. Did you know I counted five different kinds of potato chips?"
"Really? There should be six. Did I eat all the barbecue?"
"You are not funny." But she laughed anyway.
"Relax," he said, reaching for the banana chips she'd made. "Have a banana."
She gave him an arch look, then trailed her gaze impishly down his gorgeous naked body. "I already had your banana."
He smiled at her. "I think it would be more correct to say my banana had you."
Sunshine laughed again as she leaned over to feed him a strawberry. He held her hand to his lips while he ran his tongue over her fingers and gently nipped her skin before he let her withdraw.
He was unlike anyone she'd ever met before.
But unfortunately, it couldn't last.
Her heart sank as the reality of it hit her. She needed to get out of here before leaving him became even more difficult than it already was. She didn't want to hurt him or herself.
"You know, Talon," she said, picking through the strawberries. "It's been fun the last couple of days, but I really do need to get back home."
Talon swallowed his food and took a drink of water. That was easier said than done. He couldn't take her home, not if the Daimons were still after her and not if Ash wanted her protected.
Dereliction of duty wasn't something the Atlantean was forgiving about.
Dark-Hunters were protectors. Anyone who failed to uphold their code quickly found themselves spending eternity in painful torment.
Not that he needed that threat. The truth was, he didn't want to see Sunshine hurt. He liked her a lot more than he should.
Worst of all, he liked spending time with her. It had been so long since he'd just shared an evening with someone. And she was so easy to talk to. So funny and warm.
"Would you stay the night if I asked you to?"
He saw the sadness in her eyes. "I would like to, but what about tomorrow? You can't exactly take me home then, and if I use your boat, you won't have a way to leave your cabin."
"I could take you home tomorrow night."
She reached out and toyed with his small braids. Her smile was gentle and filled with regret. "No, Talon. As much as I would like to, I need to get back home. I have a job to do and I'm not independently wealthy. Every day I'm not in the Square, it's a day I'm not making money. I have to eat, you know. Wheat germ isn't cheap."
"If it's just the money-"
"It's not, Talon. I have to get back to my life."
He knew she was right. Sooner or later they would have to part company.
He would take her back as she wanted and then he could still protect her after dark, hidden in the shadows.
"Be a part of the world, but never in it."
He remembered the long-ago night Acheron had said those words to him.
"Because of what we do, we have to interact with people. But we must be unseen shadows who move among them.
"Never let anyone know you. Never give them a chance to realize you don't age. Move through the darkness ever watchful, ever alert. We are all that stands between the humans and slavery. Without us, they all die and their souls are lost forever.
"Our responsibilities are great. Our battles numerous and legendary.
"But at the end of the night, you go home alone where no one knows what it is you have done to save the world that fears you. You can never bask in your glory. You can never know love or family.
"We are Dark-Hunters.
"We are forever powerful.
"We are forever alone."
Talon drew a deep breath. His time with her was over. "All right," he said. "I'll take you back."
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. And as he tasted her, his thoughts drifted back into the past.
"Speirr?" his uncle's irate voice called from the other side of his door. "Can you please tear yourself away from your wife's embrace for one afternoon to actually attend business with me? My troth, the way you two carry on I can't imagine why you don't have five dozen children by now."
Nynia laughed from above him as she gently rode him. "You're in trouble again."
"Aye, but you're worth it, Nyn."
As she so often did, Nynia leaned over and rubbed noses with him before she kissed him passionately and slid off him. "You'd best be going or your uncle will have both our heads."
Talon winced at the memory and the pain it awoke inside him.
Sunshine pulled back and rubbed her nose against his just like Nynia had always done.
He went cold.
Something wasn't right. These memories, her actions...
The way she awoke his emotions.
He cupped Sunshine's cheek so that he could stare into her dark brown eyes. There was nothing about her features that reminded him of his wife, but her actions...
"Talon? What's wrong?"
He couldn't speak. He didn't dare tell her that she reminded him of a woman he had loved fifteen hundred years ago.
"Nothing," he said quietly. "You need to dress."
She got up.
"Speirr?"
Talon grabbed the blanket and covered himself as Ceara shimmered into his cabin.
"Is something wrong?" Sunshine asked as she noted his sudden discomfort.
He shook his head.
Ceara drew up short as she caught sight of Sunshine. Her eyes widened. "You have company?"
He didn't answer. He couldn't without clueing Sunshine into the fact that Ceara was with them.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
"No," Sunshine said.
"Yes," Ceara responded. "Did you know Acheron is looking for you?"
Talon scowled. He grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand and dialed Acheron's number.
No one answered.
"Is his phone turned off?" he asked.
Sunshine's scowl matched his. "Whose phone?"
Ceara shook her head. "He's been trying to reach you all night."
His frown deepened. Looking down, he dialed Nick.
Again, no answer.
"This is weird," Talon said. "No one answers."
Sunshine shrugged the matter away. "Not really. It's almost two a.m. Maybe they're asleep."
"Trust me," he said, "these guys are wide awake right now." He turned back toward his sister. "Ceara, where's Acheron?"
"Ceara?" Sunshine asked. "Acheron? What are you talking about?"
Ceara ignored her interruption. "He's with Artemis at the moment, but he's been worried about you."
"Why did you wait so long to come?" Talon asked.
"I couldn't get here any earlier. Something kept me blocked from you."
"Since when?"
"I don't know. Something has its power cocooned around you. Something dark and evil."
"Who are you talking to?" Sunshine asked.
"Sunshine, please, I'll explain in a minute. First, I need a few answers." He looked back at Ceara.
Ceara was staring at Sunshine curiously. She walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Sunshine shivered. "What was that?"
Ceara jumped back as if the contact had shocked her. "Nynia," she breathed, looking up at him with a startled frown.
Something inside him screamed out a denial. This time when he spoke to Ceara, he spoke in their native Celt. "Nae, she's not. It's not possible."
"Possible or not, brathair, it is her. She has Nynia's soul. Can you not feel it?"
Talon stared at Sunshine, his heart hammering.
Could it really be?
Wrapping the blanket around his hips, he moved over to where Sunshine stood and placed his hands on each side of her face. He tilted her head up so that he could look into her dark eyes.
In spite of his denials, he felt her. He had felt her the first moment he had looked at her under the lamplight.
From the deepest corner inside him, he'd known all along she was his Nynia. Known the first instant he had tasted her.
His hands shook from the truth of it.
"How can this be?" he asked.
But in his heart, he already knew. Camulus had sent her to him.
She was here to destroy him all over again.
His chest tightened to the point he couldn't breathe.
That was why he had been so attracted to her. Why he didn't want to leave her. Camulus wanted her to seduce him so that he would have to watch her die once again. In his arms.
Closing his eyes, Talon pulled Sunshine against him and held her tight, torn between wanting to fight heaven and earth to keep her and knowing in the end he would invariably lose.
No one ever defeated a god.
Sunshine struggled to breathe inside his crushing embrace. "Talon, you're scaring me. What's going on?"
"It's nothing. I just need to get you home."
Away from me before the gods realize that you're here and decide to punish you for it.
"Speirr?" Ceara asked, her voice sounding distant. "I can't stay here. I'm being pulled away again."
"Ceara?"
She was gone.
Talon clamped down hard on his emotions. He couldn't afford to have them right now. He had too many things to do and he needed all of his powers to face the challenge of keeping Sunshine safe.
Not to mention, he needed to find out what was interfering with Ceara's powers and Acheron's phone.
Sunshine's life was in his hands. This time, he wouldn't fail her.
Talon ground his teeth, wishing he could change history.
"Stay with me, Speirr, please don't ride out with vengeance in your heart."
Had he listened to Nynia the day his uncle was killed, his life would have taken an entirely different course.
But overwrought with grief and rage, he had denied Nynia's request and she hadn't argued the matter.
As always, Nynia had stepped aside and let him have his way. He'd gone straight to the northern Gaul tribe and had laid waste to them, never knowing that both he and the Gauls had been set up.
By the time he'd learned the truth, it had been too late to apologize.
The Gauls had been under the protection of the war god Camulus and under the leadership of Camulus's human son. The war god's wrath still resonated through Talon's life.
"I will exist only to see you suffer..."
It was a promise Camulus had delivered well on.
No, he couldn't fight Camulus and win. As a Dark-Hunter, he was strong and powerful, but not to the point he could kill a god.
Basically, he was screwed unless he got Sunshine back to her life and out of his, pronto.
Once they were dressed and Sunshine had her things, which she'd had to go back for three different times, Talon helped her into his boat and headed back toward New Orleans. The sooner he put distance, between them, the safer she would be.
He would contact Acheron once they were in the city and see if maybe Acheron could call in another Dark-Hunter or Squire to watch over her until Mardi Gras. Someone whose presence wouldn't endanger her even more than the Daimons who were after her.
Once they reached his garage, Talon decided to leave his motorcycle behind and use the Viper tonight. He needed speed and had no desire to put Sunshine in any more jeopardy.
Breaking more speeding laws than he wanted to contemplate, Talon took her to her loft and then used her wall phone to call Acheron.
"What are you doing in the city?" Acheron demanded.
"I was told you were trying to reach me."
"Told by whom? I thought my directions were clear. You were to stay at your cabin with the woman."
Talon frowned. This was peculiar. Ceara had never been wrong before, nor had she ever lied to him. "You did, but then..." He paused as he tried to sort it out.
What was going on here?
"Yes?"
"Nothing, T-Rex. I guess I misunderstood."
"So why are you still on the phone with me?" Ash asked. "You need to get her back to the cabin. Now."
Talon didn't care for his haughty tone at all. Ash could be evasive and annoying, but he'd never before been an authoritative dick. "I can't, T-Rex. Something weird is going down. I have to leave her here."
"Why?"
Talon glanced around to make sure Sunshine couldn't overhear his conversation. She hadn't said a word to him the whole way back to her loft and now she was sitting on the sofa sketching and appeared completely oblivious to him.
He wanted to keep it that way.
Just to be safe, he lowered his voice. "She's my wife."
"Excuse me?"
Talon lowered his voice even more. "I think Sunshine is Nynia reincarnated."
"Well, isn't this interesting?"
"Yeah, and I can't protect her any more. I need someone else to watch her, okay?"
"Yes, I can see your dilemma."
Talon frowned. Dilemma? That wasn't an Acheron kind of word. "Is something wrong with you, T-Rex?"
"No. I'm just concerned about this situation. Are you leaving her now?"
"I need to."
"Perhaps you should wait until tomorrow night."
"What?"
"I can't get anyone there tonight. Why don't you continue to protect her until I can get someone else to take over? I don't really trust Zarek to watch her, do you?"
"Hell no. You're right. I definitely don't want to leave her here unprotected."
"Yes. It could be a problem. You spend the day there, and tomorrow I will take care of the matter."
The phone went dead.
Talon hung up with a weird feeling in his stomach. Something about that conversation just didn't seem right.
But as he looked across the room, his concerns were overshadowed by the vision of Sunshine.
She was still sitting on her sofa, sketching on her pad and humming a light tune.
It was Nynia's lullaby. The same song she used to sing while she worked.
Longing and pain tore through him so powerfully that he could barely move.
But it was the love he felt for her that overwhelmed him.
Against his will, he found himself approaching her. He knelt before her, laid his head in her lap and held her tight, grateful to have her with him, no matter how different she looked or acted.
His Nynia was back.
Sunshine was stunned by the familiarity of his actions. Instinctively, she ran her hand through the softness of his golden hair as she remembered even more about their past life together. He'd done this before. Many times.
"What is going on, Talon?"
"I wish I could tell you." He lifted his head up to look at her. The torment in those jet eyes reached out to her and made her heart pound for him.
Talon pulled back.
Now that he knew who she was, it made leaving her almost impossible.
But there was nothing else he could do. She would have to live out this life with someone else.
What choice did he have? He would never do anything to hurt her. Not again.
He'd killed her once, he wouldn't kill her again.
There was no way they could be together while the curse still bound him.
Styxx toyed with his cell phone as he thought over his conversation with Talon.
He smiled.
Oh, this was sweet. Talon already knew Sunshine was his dead wife reincarnated.
Perfect. Just perfect. He couldn't have hoped for better timing. Everything was going along according to their plans.
Zarek had swallowed the bait and allowed himself to be framed. Talon was now adequately distracted by his wife. Valerius was under the control of Dionysus.
And Acheron...
Well, he had something very special planned for that one.
As the Cajun French people of New Orleans would say, Laissez les jeux commencer... Let the games begin.