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Still hidden behind the door with Nick, Tory blinked, then se in the middle of the Daimons His stance said it all, I&039;m here to clean your house and I won&039;t beit Fuck withmore than your h with dark red The he around those cherry red Doc Martens that he&039;d worn the night they first met The ruby stud was back in his nose and for once she adored the sight of the sunglasses perched on his face

Man, Acheron was hot and her heart raced in gratitude that he&039;d come for her

The tall, blond man beside him was much more sedate in appearance With a black button down shirt that was rolled back at his wrists and jeans, his clothes were plain in comparison But he was almost as handsome with perfect features and white blond hair that he wore pulled back into a ponytail She also didn&039;t miss the fact that but for the blond hair, the man bore a remarkable resemblance to Stryker

Like Stryker, he had a deadly air that was only surpassed by the one enveloping Ash

"I thought Ash couldn&039;t come here," she whispered to Nick

"Apparently he&039;s willing to end the world for you You should be i, she definitely was Why would Ash take such a risk?

And every demon and Daile as said by the crowd outside It was as if they were all holding a collective breath as they waited for Arin

All except Stryker who glared at the blond man beside Ash with an expression that was best defined as pained hatred "You dare to stand with ainst you, Father, I&039;d stand with Mickey Mouse"

Stryker curled his lip "You worthless sonofabitch You should never have been anything more than a cum stain"

The blond scoffed "I could definitely say the sa about you It would have saved the world and all of us a lot of misery noouldn&039;t it?"

The Daimons started forward, but they were thrown back by an unseen force

Ash turned to Stryker and growled "Enough of the family reunion bullshit Where is Soteria?"

Tory frowned at Ash&039;s words Though the voice was his, it had a thick Greek accent and not the more fluid Atlantean one he used whenever he wasn&039;t speaking colloquial American How odd Even when he spoke flawless Greek, his accent wasn&039;t that throaty and traditional

"She&039;s over there" A tall blond woman appeared a few feet from Ash and indicated the door where Tory stood with an iasped at her beauty as the woman crossed the short distance to eios You&039;ve come to set me free" She placed a kiss on his cheek and whispered so in his ear

Tory was stunned as she realized this was the goddess Apollyoddess of utter destruction

Ash hugged her close and nodded before he stepped back With a sneer thrown at Stryker, he turned and headed for her room

Before Nick could stop her, Tory shoved open the door and ran for Ash She threw herself into his ariddy relief And when their lips met

She went cold in confused shock

This wasn&039;t Ash In looks he was completely identical, but he neither smelled nor felt like Acheron And he definitely didn&039;t kiss like him

Nick ran at the Ash irabbed Nick and shoved hio," Urian said to her and the fake Ash as he slammed the door shut behind them He looked at Nick "And you need to come with us"

Nick curled his lip in obvious hatred "I&039; anywhere with him I&039;d rather be dead"

Urian forced Nick to look down at Satara&039;s body "I&039; to make the wildly unfounded assumption that Satara&039;s dead by your hand and not Tory&039;s" Gripping Nick&039;s chin, he forced hiaze "Now, stay with me on this, Cajun My father slit ht I&039;d betrayed hi married Before that, he lovedchild His second in co to do to you once he sees her body? I can assure you, it won&039;t be a fun-filled trip to Chuck E Cheese For all their animosity toward each other, Satara is his sister and she&039;s served him well over the centuries If you really want to stay here and have some fun with Stryker, I won&039;t stop you But I really wouldn&039;t recoh to Nick Sanity returned to his eyes "Fine I&039;ll go with you"

"Urian," the fake Ash said between his clenched teeth "I think they&039;re catching on"

"Catching on to what?" Nick asked

Tory rolled her eyes at the dense question "That this isn&039;t Ash"

The words had barely left her lips before they faded out of the room

Zolan, Stryker&039;s third in command and the leader of his personal Illuminati attack force, cleared his throat in the still silent room "Umboss, I don&039;t mean this disrespectfully, but why are we still here? I mean, if Acheron has come to free Apolly?"

The Dai to the outer world to appear or for Apolly else unnatural to happen Meanwhile, Apollyelic and sweet, as she watched Stryker closely

His second in coree, kyrios," he said to Stryker, using the Atlantean term for lord "It doesn&039;t feel like the end of the world"

Stryker turned a cold sneer to Apolly brow "How does the song go, &039;It&039;s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine&039;?"

So and in an instant he realized what it was Launching himself from his throne, he ran to the room just as Urian, Tory, Nick and what had to be Ash&039;s twin brother Styxx vanished

His anger over the obvious trickon the floor in a pool of blood Fear washed away his rage as he ran to find her dead Her eyes were glazed and her skin tinged blue

His heart shattered as he pulled her into his arrief and pain "You stupid psychotic bitch," he growled against her cold cheek, fighting the sobs that demanded release "What have you done now?"

Apolly for Strykerius as he rocked his sister&039;s body in his ar her of the day she&039;d found her son&039;s body dumped on the cliffs Syh her

The fact that he could love someone as broken as Satara said much for him Yes, he could be cold-blooded, but he wasn&039;t heartless Closing her eyes, she remembered hi and bitter over his father&039;s curse

"I gave up everything I ever cared about for hiony in only six years? My young children are now banished from the sun and are cursed to drink blood fro food, and to die in pain at only twenty-seven? For what? For the death of a Greek whore killed by soldiers I&039;ve never even seen? Where&039;s the justice in that?"

So she&039;d pulled hiht hi huiven him and his children shelter in a realm where the huer of his children accidentally dying by sunlight Then she&039;d allowed hiinning, she&039;d pitied him and she&039;d even loved him as a son

But he wasn&039;t her Apostolos and the more he was around her, the more she wanted to have her own child with her no matter the cost She admitted it was her own fault that she&039;d put a wall between her and Strykerius And the two of theet back at the people they hated

Now it had all come to this

"I&039;m so sorry, Strykerius"

He looked up at her, his silver eyes swirling in pain "Are you? Or are you gloating?"

"I never gloat over death I may relish it froloat"

"And I don&039;t let challenges like this go unanswered"

Tory didn&039;t have time to even orient herself to her new location before soht break It wasn&039;t until the scent of Acheron hit her and he kissed her deeply that she shed in relief She was safe

She started to wrap her arms around his back, but reed his neck and held hireat in her arht?" he asked, his eyes darkening as he saw her torn shirt and Nick&039;s buttoned up jacket

"I&039;m fine Really"

"But we&039;re not," Urian said drily "Nick killed Satara while they held Tory"

"He did it to protect me," Tory interjected

Urian snorted "We&039;ll put that on the headstone for you In theto want blood for this A lot of blood"

Nick scoffed at his dire tone "No offense, your father doesn&039;t scare iven how bad I want a piece of his hide Coet some"

Urian looked less than impressed "I know you think you share poith hi but the leftovers Not to ets a piece of him until after I do"

Ash let out a shrill whistle "Down, children We have s to do than just save your machismo"

Tory hid a smile as she finally understood exactly what Ash&039;s job was and why he described hiler He really was

Ash leveled a determined look at Nick "We have a battle to prepare for I&039;hed bitterly "I don&039;t need your fucking help I can fight on my own"

Ash didn&039;t respond to the hatred in his tone "I knohy you hate et it But your ain Hate ht tolerate me as a necessary evil"

Nick shoved him back "This doesn&039;t make us friends"

Ash held his hands up "I know" He turned back to Tory "Styxx, take her out of here Keep her safe"

Tory gaped as she realized that this was the same Styxx she&039;d read about in the journal-the same one who&039;d tortured and castrated Acheron

A wave of rage so bitter she could taste it washed over her She was going to tell Ash that she had no intention of going anywhere with the one out of his way to hurt hiht flash of light blinded her

A nanosecond later a herd of mean, blond men stepped out They looked deadly serious as they took up forht to Urian "You&039;ve betrayedat Urian

Tory had no idea what it was until Ash caught it in his hand It was a strangely shaped dagger that ren and yet it bore the same sun symbol on the poaze on the Daiirls, scream and run away now, Stryker It&039;ll save you time later Believe me, you don&039;t want a taste of ue over his fangs as if he was savoring the idea of feeding on Acheron "There&039;s nothing I crave more than the taste of blood Your Dark-Hunters aren&039;t here" He looked around at the ht we feast, Spathi Attack!"

Tory was snatched behind the group that stood with Acheron She wanted to tell them that she could hold her own, but as the htning bolt strikes, she realized that she wasn&039;t as proficient as she needed to be

They weren&039;t just fighting with their fists and weapons, they were fighting with preternatural powers she could never coroup of deht theht hi Urian stabbed a des of a Dai for a weapon of some kind

A demon launched itself at her She tried to kick him back, but he didn&039;t even flinch Just as he would have reached her, Julian was there with a sword He severed the de the blade of his ancient Greek sword on his shoulder, he turned to face her "Can you handle a sword?"

"Yes"

"Kyrian!" Julian shouted to the other tall blond man on their team "Give me a sword"

Kyrian tossed what appeared to be only a hilt In one fluid ht it and pressed a button on the cross hilt The blade shot out to just under three feet in length He handed it over to her "Daih their hearts Demons between their eyes and if you cut the heads off any of us, we all die"

"How do I tell the difference?"

"Most of the Daimons are blond and they explode into dust when you pierce their hearts Hit the heart and if that doesn&039;t work, try the eyes If you stab soood guy Just FYI"