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Ash sank to his knees in the middle of the ER as the pain frorief and anger assailed him He didn&039;t understand why, but he couldn&039;t even breathe at the thought of Tory not being here

"Tory," he snarled, holding her against his shoulder as he cupped her cold face in his hand and gently shook her body "Don&039;t you dare fucking die on me Tory!"

Wanda was there with a doctor and orderlies Standing behind him, she took his shoulders as the doctor pulled Tory out of his arht them and yet he knew he couldn&039;t They had to save her Don&039;t interfere Don&039;t Interfere

Wanda&039;s touch was gentle, but it wasn&039;t the touch he wanted to feel "Ash?" she said, her voice breaking

He couldn&039;t respond as he heard the for a Code Blue They ripped Tory out of his arurney before they whisked her away

Ash knelt there on the floor, his bloodied coat fanned out, watching theh the hallhile his soul screaainst those who&039;d hurt her

"I think he&039;s in shock"

So the intern back as he cas wide apart "I&039;m not in shock I&039;m fine"

The intern passed a wide-eyed stare to Wanda

"Sweetie," Wanda said, touching hiaze skied body "You are very hurt and you need to let the nice doctor look at you"

Ash wiped at so it eat, he glanced down to see his hand covered in blood that was pouring out of his temple How could he explain to the at him, he&039;d make all the injuries vanish

The one who couldn&039;t heal herself was Tory She was the one as dead

"I&039;o to the bathroom"

The intern was still suspicious but no one stopped hie so raw he could taste it scorched hi red He lasses over theht of hireat that it arced a burst of power so strong, it shorted out the lights over hiled for control

Save her

With a ht he could heal her back to nor changesHe heard Savitar&039;s voice in his head and he hated that part of his conscience His entire hu with his destiny Of people bringing hi to his knees, he screaainst his arled for sanity He couldn&039;t do it to Tory He couldn&039;t risk what saving her ht do to the world If she was supposed to die, she&039;d have to die He refused to taod, damn you, Apostolos Seize your destiny! Save her!

Just because you can, doesn&039;t mean you should It was the one code he lived his entire life by

"Don&039;t die, Tory," he whispered, knowing he wouldn&039;t forsake his oath He wouldn&039;t be like the ones who&039;d screwed hi hat should have been left alone

Disgusted with his cowardice, he glanced at the mirror and flinched No wonder they&039;d been so freaked out He looked like walking death His face was battered, his clothes torn and bloodied He would change theet suspicious if he walked out totally repaired So he cleaned up his face and went back outside where Wanda aiting His heart stopped as he saw her holding the leather jacket that Tory had been wearing

Wanda offered him a kind smile "Your friend was resuscitated They&039;ve taken her into surgery"

He took the jacket as a wave of relief washed over him "Thank you, Wanda"

She nodded "You sure you don&039;t want to see a doctor?"

"Positive"

She shook her head as if disappointed by his decision "Well I&039;ll take you up to the waiting room Do you have any of her information to fill out the paperwork?"

"No, not really But you know I&039;ood for the bill You do whatever it takes, damn the cost"

"I know, baby" She patted his arm as she led him toward the elevators "We do need the naeara and Theo Kafieri Theo is her grandfather who lives in New York and her cousin Geary lives in Greece"

"All right I&039;ll show you up and then co as she led him into the elevators where he&039;d been a thousand ti in here with Simi to do volunteer work That was how he&039;d met Wanda Her father had been on one of the wards where they&039;d brought presents at Christery They&039;d been friends ever since

She took him to a small room that was sterile and coldjust like hi?"

He shook his head What he needed was to kno Tory was doing But his powers told hi

"Okay I&039;ll be back"

He sat down to rest his legs that were still throbbing froht a whiff of Tory&039;s scent clinging to his jacket Holding it to his nose, he inhaled her and wanted to cry The fear of losing her actually made his hands shake and he didn&039;t understand why They barely knew each other

Yet he wanted to storo rotten Hishireat Arteifts and made sure he was comfortable, and then she&039;d turned on hiressive entrapainst him

Tory hated you first and then liked you

He s the hammer at his head She was prickly And smart And funny Most of all, she treated him like he was normal Of course she didn&039;t knoasn&039;t, but unlike other people she didn&039;t grope him or make hi to screw hiuy on the street

"Ash?"

He looked up to see Tory&039;s friend Kim in front of him Her face was lined with fear and concern as she looked at hi here?" he asked her

"I work here Remember? I&039;m an L&D nurse I was told by an ER friend that Tory had come in What happened? Are you okay? Shouldn&039;t you be downstairs being treated?"

He shook his head "We wrecked on my bike"

Kim sed as her eyes filled with tears "Is she okay?"

"They said she was in surgery I&039; to hear"

She sat down beside him "No offense, but you look pretty torn up too"

"I&039;ll live"

She gave hiive me your cell nu about Tory You knoon&039;t leave and you need to see a doctor and get cleaned up" She narrowed her gaze on the hole in his jeans that revealed his ravaged skin "By the way, that wasn&039;t a request"

Ash nodded as he realized that she was right He wasn&039;t doing anyone any good like this and he had anotherher his number, he left and headed for the elevator The instant he was alone, he flashed hieropen the doors to her teainst the walls Her koris shrieked before they ran out to leave Artemis alone with hilare "What is your wreckage?"

"Dae," he corrected as he stalked toward her "Can&039;t you tell?"

"What? That you look like crap? You&039;re filthy and you smell Why didn&039;t you bathe before you came to roup ofat me, Artie"

"And that&039;s my fault? How?"

He took a deep breath and counted to ten before he killed the rooman who didn&039;t really need herany bells for you?"

"Yes, they do So what?" That unrepentant stare went through hih his clenched teeth as he fought for the strength not to lash out and hurt her "They tried to kill me, Artemis And as you can plainly see, I&039;m not really thrilled over it"

Her face paled "They weren&039;t supposed to touch you Ever"

"No," he said, his voice dropping to the low cadence of a demon&039;s, "their orders were to terht I just happened to be with her when they struck"

She gave hier "Why do you even care about the hu to protect you"

"No you weren&039;t I knohat&039;s in the nity It&039;s your own ass you&039;re trying to save"

She scooted back on the couch, trying to escape him "Does this mean you&039;re the one who took the book?"

He paused "I thought your people had it"

She curled her lip at him "If we had it, ould we be after the bitch?"

The insult to Tory pissed him off even s off I"What if I don&039;t do what you want? They&039;re innocent hu to kill them?"

His hands itched to wrap the it until he had satisfaction "I a with you"

"And neither a and I won&039;t stop until I have it"

He hissed in anger, but she didn&039;t retreat

She tossed her head back, proud in her defiance "You won&039;t hurt me and I know it You love Katra too much She would be devastated to know her father killed her o So long as I have her love, I know I&039;m completely safe from your wrath"

He held his hand up as if he&039;d choke her anyway, but in the end, they both knew the truth She was right As angry as he was, he couldn&039;t hurt her because it would tear his daughter apart

Artemis smiled seductively "I&039;ve missed you" She slid her arm around his waist

Ash shoved her away from him "If you value your worthless life, stay away from me"

He flashed himself from Olympus to Katoteros

Urian was on his way out the door of the main hall as Ash entered it "What the hell happened to you? You have a bad run-in with Artemis?"

Ash curled his lip at the ex-Dai to bitch-slap you so hard your ears will ring for eternity"

Urian laughed "But it won&039;t be today, mostly because you don&039;t look like you could doto hurt someone Seriously what happened?"

"I wrecked my bike"

Urian rolled his eyes in disbelief "Fine, don&039;t tell h as he realized how preposterous that sounded He&039;d never laid a bike down before in his life Upset, angry at Artemis and worried over Tory, he paused to look at the Dai withthis out? Da his lip, Ash started past him

Urian pulled him to a stop "That was a joke, Acheron You were supposed to laugh"

"I&039; "So what really happened?"

Ash hesitated It wasn&039;t in his nature to talk to anyone about anything And yet he had one burning question that wouldn&039;t go away "What is so wrong with uts?"

Urian snorted at his question "You&039;re right That&039;s sick" He clapped his hand on Ash&039;s shoulder "One word for you, my brother Therapy Get soand speaking of expanding things, you have a visitor inside ants to be your new best friend"

Ash cursed as he realized aiting for hihost ants the two of you to kiss and ether "I&039;d rather be hit in the head with the tack ha story" Ash let out a tired sigh "Thanks for the warning I&039;ll go deal with him"

Ash headed for the doors that led to his throne rooed to his Atlantean formesta and black leather pants He threw open the doors to find Styxx waiting on the other side

He paused at the sight of his tho always caught hiuard Every time he looked at Styxx he was reminded of his past Of the brutality Of the injustice of their lives

And against his will, he heard Estes growling drunk in his ear as he held him down by his hair and violated him "How dare you make me want you like you do I hate you for what you do tohis uncle had ever freely given him had been blows and insults

Now Styxx stood before him, a perfect replica with short blond hair and normal blue eyes that Ash would have killed to possess

Ash looked away as he reod and not a worthless whore at the mercy of his brother&039;s cruelty "I&039;m really not in the mood to deal with you today, Styxx What little patience I have was eaten alive about two o"

"I know I can sense your ift," Styxx said sarcastically, "froave me your memories I&039;m only here to ask you one favor"

Ash felt his skin flash to blue as anger pierced him fervently "You would dare ask a favor of me?"

Styxx stepped back and nodded before he went down on one knee "I ask as your brother and as a supplicant to a god"

Ash would have laughed had he not been so angry What ga with him now? "As a supplicant, what sacrifice do you offer for this favor?"

"My heart"

Ash scowled "I don&039;t understand"

Styxx looked up with a sincere gaze that scalded hih So in this, I offer my heart to you If I lie or betray you, you can rip it out over and over again Chain me next to Proain, he would "And what favor do you ask?"

Styxx&039;s eyes were haunted before he whispered "Let o I can&039;t live here anymore, isolated from people Alone Banished I just want the chance to live a life that neither of us ever had a chance to live"

Any other tihed in his face But today he ith understanding and sy he wanted himself What had been done to them hadn&039;t been fair Styxx&039;s life shouldn&039;t have been tied to his and because of Acheron, Styxx had lost his family, his life and his hoood "Fine, brother You&039;ll have everything you need to start over"

Throwing his hand out, he flashed Styxx to New York where the prince would blend in best with the population It was also an area where he would hopefully never lay eyes on his brother again

Besides, Styxx was right He could kill him at any time Let the man have a life if he could find it Honestly, he wished him luck

Most of all he wished Styxx a peace that seemed to forever elude theainst her will

She pulled off his arravation "Akri done left his Siot tired and cranky Why you treat the Simi like that, akri?"

He cupped her cheek in his hand before he kissed her forehead "I&039;ht you here You should stay for a bit with your sister and Alexion"

She frowned up at him "But what about you, akri? You&039;ve been so sad, but you wouldn&039;t let the Sis I have to deal with and I don&039;t want you hurt You stay here, Simykee"

She beamed at the endearment he hadn&039;t used since she was a baby demon "Only if akri promises he will call for his Sier up to him "Good, cause the Simi knows akri can&039;t break his word"

He smiled and pulled out his black American Express card for her "Go shop"

She squeed before she ran to the TV and turned it on

Wanting to be alone, Ash walked through the palace even though he could teleport There were so norod powers combined

Just because you can, doesn&039;t s that didn&039;t need to be done It hy none of the beings he&039;d consulted ould tell him shit about his future Why he didn&039;t heal Tory There were some lessons, even hard ones, that everyone had to learn Even the gods

But right now, he didn&039;t want to learn anything else He wanted solace and coet it So he entered his bedroouitar frouitars spread throughout the palace here and the various apartments that he kept all over the world, but this one

This was his baby A Fender James Burton Telecaster with a maple neck and black body covered with red paisley flames, it had the fullest sound he&039;d ever heard Sure he hadplayed sweeter or se for hiapi akri, Simi Charonte for "Simi loves her akri"

Ash smiled every time he saw that and his heart swelled with love for her She could make him smile no matter how upset or sad he was, but she couldn&039;t comfort hi Before he knew it, he was playing Pink Floyd&039;s "Wish You Were Here" It was a song that had haunted him since the first time he&039;d heard it It was like the writer had known exactly as in his heart It was all about the decisions that changed a life and how perceptions could change any and all situations and feelings

The proble that he didn&039;t even kno to begin to sort through them Torn bethat he should do and what he wanted to do