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Ash heard the door to the roo Tory, he didn&039;t move until he felt Dev&039;s presence near hi down, his expression a er

"What?" Ash asked, half afraid of the answer

"A group of demons just seized Tory"

It took a full minute for those words to penetrate the denial inside hie so volatile Ash could taste it, rose up Grinding his teeth against the pain, he clothed hiainst the injuries that o?"

"Kalosis"

He let out an expletive so crude, Dev actually blushed It took every ounce of willpower not to lash out at the bear for allowing them to take her out of here Lucky for Dev, he kneasn&039;t the bear&039;s fault Sanctuaries only protected Apollites, Daimons and Were-Hunters

Deone to the one place Ash couldn&039;t follow The plan had been carefully thought out and executed He&039;d congratulate them except for the fact he wanted their blood

Sio to Kalosis, akri The Siet Akra-Tory back for you"

"No!" his voice caht do to her The gallu demons and the Charonte were natural eneainst virtually anyone, she couldn&039;t fight all the gallu by herself She was still a very young deth "I won&039;t risk you"

If they&039;d taken Tory to use against him, they&039;d take Simi in an instant Honestly, he was a, Sih they would have taken her, they would have paid for her abduction

Tory on the other hand was completely at their e, she obeyed and placed herself back on his forearm Ash turned back to Dev "How ht behind her and ho Before I could reach her, she was gone through a bolt hole I&039;m really sorry We did our best"

"I know you did" It hy the bear was still breathing "Now it&039;s between me and the, he walked through the main foyer and allowed his hu silk formesta that was easier to bear on his bruised body

He walked out onto the balcony that overlooked a tranquil sea Even so, he wasn&039;t overly fond of this spot It reminded him too much of the balcony to the room where his adopted father had kept hiht now

"Matera?" he called, su her from the depths of the hell realet his temper under control so that he could talk to his h they fought against each other over h to keep his tone respectful "I forgave you for sending Stryker after Marissa Hunter in an effort to lure me into Kalosis to free you, but this" He paused before he exploded in anger "How could you?" he asked from between clenched teeth

"How could I what?" Her tone showed genuine surprise "What are you talking about?"

"Demons entered Sanctuary and took Soteria into Kalosis Are you telling e of this?"

"That&039;s exactly what I&039;ry denial in her tone was too sincere to be feigned Her shade appeared beside hier on his behalf "I will take care of theht back"

Ash inclined his head to her shade respectfully, but so inside him warned him that it wouldn&039;t be that easy

Apollyarden with a swirl of fury as she teleported from her area of the palace to the hall where Stryker held court over his Dairoup of the on some hapless huht here

Stryker looked up with a frown at her approach "To what do I owe this honor?"

She ignored his sarcasm as she looked around at the Daimon horde "I want them out of here Now"

Stryker oddess Out"

They obeyed instantly, taking the human with them Apollymi felt badly for the person they&039;d killed, but it was the state of nature that one life form invariably fed on another While it wasn&039;t fair the human had been prematurely killed, the Daimons had it even worse They were cursed to watch themselves and everyone they loved decay over a twenty-four hour period because eleven thousand years ago a god had been angry over the actions of only a dozen Apollites

No, life wasn&039;t a balance sheet of fairness It was survival of the fittest, sht now, that was her

As soon as she was alone with Stryker, she narrowed her eyes on hiave her a blank stare "She would be?"

"Soteria Kafieri Your demons took her out of Sanctuary in New Orleans Where are they holding her?"

Stryker scowled as if he had no idea what she was talking about "What do you aallus you welcomed here Surely, not even you can miss their stench They violated the Chthonian laws of Sanctuary and they took her hostage to hold against Apostolos Don&039;t you dare feign ignorance in this"

"I&039;nantly "Kessar!" He shouted, su Apollymi have ever ance that was coiven the fact Kessar would have been dead had Strykerius not taken him in Tall and lean with brown hair and red eyes, he looked ood looks to his advantage whenever he sought hunance as he faced Stryker "I despise whenever you do that, Daimon I&039;m not one of your pathetic minions to come when you call my na as you reside here and benefit from my protection, you&039;ll coerously "What can I do for you, my lord?"

His sarcasm made a mockery of the tone Stryker had used on hie How dare you e"

Kessar shrugged "We did what your sister asked us to do I assumed she had your ear If you have issue hat&039;s happened Perhaps you should have a fa" He vanished

Stryker cursed "I hate that sonofabitch"

"Then why did you offer hie?" Apollymi asked

He looked at her with a coldness she could feel all the way through her "You have your demons for protection, it seeer have your favor, Apollyh I killed h I&039;ve spent a million lifetimes in blind service to you, I&039;m only a means to an end You want to hurt my father for what he did to your son and I&039;m the chosen tool for it Honestly, I didn&039;t ht of you as a mother But you declared war on me and so here we are Neither of us happy Both of us alienated froh "We&039;re a pair, aren&039;t we?"

Apollymi approached hih her It wasn&039;t as simple as he made it sound "In spite of what you think, Strykerius, I did love you But I&039;etting that The moment you went after Apostolos to harm him, you drew the battle declaration, not I Where my son is concerned, I have no reason or loyalty to anyone above hirandchild are the only things in this world I would die to protect Now you hold what is sacred to him Release her immediately, or not even your derily as he realized this was no bluff "Satara!"

His sister appeared instantly in a pique "Don&039;t take that tone with lared at her "Where&039;s Soteria?"

The stupid child didn&039;t even have the sense to fear her Instead, she shrugged "She&039;s safe for the moment"

"Release her," Apollymi deht Satara into her grasp so that she could choke her with one hand "I&039;ames, little one Release her or I will kill you"

Satara sputtered and choked as she tried to pull Apollymi&039;s hand from her throat It was useless No one outpowered Apollymi "You kill hter

"Apolly Look at her wrist She&039;s wearing the Atlantean cuffs And I&039; to bet the other one is on Soteria You kill her and Soteria dies with her"

Satara s, Apollyainst Strykerius "I want Soteria freed"

Satara straightened and ness that made her want to blast the chit into oblivion "When I have my journal from Acheron, she will be freed Trust me, I don&039;t want her harmed any more than you do" The taunt in her voice didn&039;t fail to register with Apolly "I merely hat Acheron has"

Apollymi scoffed "Do you think he would ever trust you to make a trade for her?"

"No That&039;s why I&039;ve had my demons summon Jaden Jaden will broker the deal That way I know Acheron won&039;t use his powers against ainst him"

Apollymi rolled her eyes at the ridiculous boast She was ever aance of people who seriously overestiirl, you have no powers"

Satara laughed evilly "Oh Apollyreatly underestimate me if you think that" She faded out

If she rolled her eyes any further back, she&039;d go blind from it Apollymi turned to Strykerius "I understand the need for fao before she drags you down to a depth so low you drown in it" Then she too faded back to her garden where she could speak to Apostolos alone

As abad news to him and thatI can do, one to Jaden ill contact you with the teret her back"

She could feel Apostolos&039;s impotent fury "Matera-"

"They have the bracelets on Soteria If I try anything, Satara will kill her"

He sighed wearily "What do they want?"

"Ryssa&039;s journal"

"Which one?"

"They didn&039;t say, but I&039;et her back" And once Satara was free of that bracelet, she was going to wish she&039;d never dared to cross Apollymi or her son

Ash pulled away froer things to concern himself with If Satara wanted one of the journals, there was only one reason

She wanted to kill Artemis and Apollo

"Damn it, Ryssa" Why had she always felt the need to journal her every thought? Yet those words had coreatest threat he&039;d ever known

He grih his back For that alone, he should let Satara have at Artemis

But unfortunately, her death would end the world

There was nothing to be done for it He&039;d deal with Satara, but for now he had to secure Soteria

Closing his eyes, he took himself back to their room in Sanctuary He walked to the other side of the bed and froze