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Sin cursed as he landed on his side in the center of what appeared to be a Charonte feast There had to be at least a hundred Charontes present and they were all staring at him in silence as he lay on the cobblestone floor in front of them There was no sound whatsoever except for the occasional whisper of a Charonte wing

The rooreat hall with arched rafters and exposed beaave the place an eerie hill that didn&039;t see froin to identify

"Is he for us to eat?" one of the young male Charonte asked an older one

Before Sin could stand or respond, Apollymi appeared on the other side of the main banquet table beside the adult male Charonte the boy had spoken to

Her silver eyes swirled violently as she stared at him "Tear his worthless Sumerian hide to shreds"

"Su Suo over like an Ozzy Osbourne/Marilyn Manson duet at the Southern Baptist Convention&039;s annuala shirt that said "Kibbles and Bits", with a heavy emphasis on the "bits" part

Sin pushed himself to his feet in expectation of the death that was about to run hi?"

"Ekeira danyaha," a female spat, which was the obscene version of "screw you" in Charonte

Suddenly a ht the deround But before he could punch hi in pain, he head-butted the de him back Sin&039;s shoulder was ripped open as the demon fell away

A woman ran at Sin then He picked her up and tossed her at the next twofor hirowled as another deht, which didn&039;t do a daies, Sin kicked his legs back against the demon&039;s knees The de around and caught the deered back as the deht, staring in horror at what had happened

"Do not interfere in this," Apollymi snarled

Kat shook her head "I won&039;t let him die Not like this and not without an explanation"

"Explanation?" Apollyranddaughter "I went to his pantheon and asked them to help me hide your father so that my pantheon wouldn&039;t kill hihed," Sin said, re the tales of that event clearly in his mind

Apollymi turned on him with her nostrils flared He was aainst the far wall Obviously a quick death wasn&039;t what she had in -term pain "My son suffered as no one should ever suffer and I want to return that to you tenfold"

He could understand that Hell, he could even respect her sentie the fact that he was innocent in this "I didn&039;t turn you away, Apollymi I wasn&039;t there that day I swear, I would have helped you had I known By the time I heard about it, it was too late"

"Liar!"

"It&039;s not a lie," he said calmly as another demon inched closer to him He sed as he remembered his own bitter childhood He&039;d been one of triplets Within an hour of his birth, it&039;d been foretold that he and his brothers would cause the end of their pantheon

The sad thing was, the prophecy had been correct But it hadn&039;t been what his father had feared It&039;d been the jealousy and hatred of his own family that had ultimately killed them Their own actions had caused Sin to be the weak link that had allowed Arteainst one another and defeat them

His pantheon had fallen only after he&039;d ceased to be a god, and his surviving brother had gone into hiding

And when Sin spoke, his voice was thick with that grief "My father killed my own brother over prophecy and he damn near killed me I would never have allowed another child to suffer for such stupidity That is not in randmother&039;s face and heard the sincere emotion in Sin&039;s voice He reallyto me now?" Apollymi demanded

"Because I&039;ve lost my children, too, and I know the ache that lives inside the heart that no amount of solace or alcohol will squelch I knohat it&039;s like to have the powers of a god and to not be able to hold the one thing that means the most to me And if you think for one , even Arteo ahead and call down your arive"

Kat sed as she saw the utter agony in his eyes as he spoke of his children and their loss This was a edy to the depth of his soul It was enough to bring tears to her eyes, and it made her heart soften toward him No one should hurt like that

Apollyaze was haunted and her skin was pale

Sin backed the approaching delare before he spoke again "I consider Acheron one of my very few friends, Apollymi I would never have seen such a decent man hurt for any reason"

Still Apollymi didn&039;t speak, but she did finally race She moved to stand just before Sin Without a word, she reached out and touched his bleeding arm and shoulder, which were instantly healed

When she finally spoke again, her voice was only a whisper, but it held enough power to be heard plainly by all "My son has few friends and even feho know hi as you protect him, you live Su you&039;ve said here today, I will bring a wrath down on you so severe that you will spend eternity trying to dig out your own brains to alleviate the pain of it"

He glanced past her to Kat "Now I knohere you get your gift for iery"

Kat stifled a smile Only Sin and her father would be able to find hunored Sin&039;s co at her "He is your guest in my world Take him from here and make sure he doesn&039;t wander into those ould kill hiht we could eat hientle look to the child "Another day, Parriton"

Parriton pouted as Kat came forward to take Sin "Can I just have a little bite of hierness "Another day, Parriton, I proh before he went back to his steak

Kat paused before Sin and held her hand out to him She half-expected hie hand around hers so that she could flash hih her at the sensation of his touch There was an indescribable power that was innate to him An inner peace

At least until they were back in her living rooave her a droll look "Wow," he said, his tone flat "That was fun Anyplace else you want to take me while we&039;re here? Maybe there&039;s a darker corner of hell than that hall of flesh-hungry demons, huh?"

Kat smiled at his sarcasm "There is the Dais on you"

He scoffed at her threat "Stryker&039;s a pussy I&039;d have hi ht I heard he kicked your ass last time you met" Not true, but she felt the need to tease hi closer to him with her hands on her hips, "serious shit It&039;s all over the Dark-Hunter bbs how he hed while you bled"

"Says who?"

Kat froze as she realized she&039;d unknowingly walked right up to hiht Now they were so close that she could feel his breath on her face

He was tall and sexy There was no denying it And those eyes

She could see to eternity in those sharp, golden eyes that were fringed with thick, dark lashes What&039;s more, she was suddenly enticed with the texture of his skin There was so edible And it beckoned her to want to touch hiaze focused on her parted lips Kat had a beautiful mouth that complemented her pale features, and a sudden burst of desire pierced him, She really was beautiful all over Her skin was so sent

The ot to know her, the less like hertime since he&039;d been around a woman who dared to stand up to hi time since he&039;d felt such heat in his loins

Before he knehat he was doing, he dipped his head down to kiss her

Kat shivered at the sensation of his lips on hers She&039;d never had a real kiss before Between her uarded and watched to the point that no man had ever really been alone with her

At least not for long

She&039;d alondered what a tender kiss would feel like And she had to say that Sin&039;s didn&039;t disappoint His lips were soft and deainst hers She wrapped her ar hiht Wonderful and war Oh yeah, she could stay here for a while

Until he was suddenly ripped out of her arainst the far wall Sin cursed as he was held six feet above the floor

"Keep your lips and other body parts to yourself or you&039;ll be headless"

Kat laughed at the sound of her grand voice in the room an instant before Sin was slammed to the floor so hard, she could hear his bones rattle

He let out a disgusted sigh "I swear I&039; my powers back if for no other reason than to-"

"Sh," Kat said, interrupting him "Be careful, she can hear you"

He rolled himself over and leaned his head back to look at Kat from the floor She didn&039;t kno such a pose could be sexy, but soed it "How do you have a social life?"

"I don&039;t"

"Yeah," he said as he rose to his feet "I iher on you than they are"

Sadness filled her at theto know But the truth was, her mother had kept them apart and while it hurt Kat, she understood the reason and cohter in her didn&039;t want to Honestly, their separation was the thing she regretted most in life "Not really My father doesn&039;t know aboutabout Acheron, it was that the hter no one had told him about "How the hell have you kept that fro He can&039;t see those who are closest to hihost to his vision My rand hie of ive ainst him Believe me, it&039;s much better for everyone if he never learns I exist"

That ht Personally, he&039;d kill anyone ould keep such a thing fro you were?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ash will die if he ever learns he has a child that he has never seen, especially since you&039;re grown"

"That&039;s why he can never know and why you have to stop referring to Artemis as my mother As far as anyone is concerned, I, like all the other hand that Artemis raised"

Sin shook his head Da a child, he couldn&039;t i worse than to have a child he didn&039;t know about Acheron deserved so much better than this "You three have really done a number on him Does anyone else know?"

"Just you, Si"

"Don&039;t worry about er" He gave her a devilish s Arteht side to this Sooner or later he&039;s going to find out about you, and when he does he&039;ll kill Arteave hiroin jerk "Very funny He would never hurt her"

"Yeah, I know Damn it to hell," he said in a low tone "Bastard is still in love with her There&039;s so with him"

"No," she said softly "He&039;s not in love with her anymore I would know it if he was I&039; more than infatuated by her But he understands her and it&039;s not in his nature to hurt anyone if he can help it"

Sin snorted in disagreement He&039;d seen Ash break loose on a few people over the centuries, which was one of the reasons Sin didn&039;t push the Atlantean god too far And those were for ine howthis major "You don&039;t know him as well as you think you do"

"And what makes you the expert?"

"Let&039;s just say I understand betrayal And having been where he is, I know the explosion to come Trust me &039;Duck&039; won&039;t quite cover it"

She tensed at his warning "Arte about her?"

Kat paused as she tried to read hi but an open book Even his emotions were hidden from her Nor, and though she got twinges fro like what she nore to be so clueless "Who betrayed you then?"

He folded his ar about betrayal You don&039;t really want to talk about it, especially not with strangers who are related to your worst eneain "So where does all this leave us anyway? You plan on keeping allu unleash the Dimme or what?"

That seemed to be the question of the day She truly wasn&039;t sure what she should do with hi about the Dimme, are you?"

He pulled his shirt off, over his head, to show her a body that was riddled with scarred muscles Some of the scars appeared to be claw marks, while others were clearly fro?"

No He looked more battle scarred than an ancient warrior A treh her It was obvious he&039;d been fighting a long ti it for the most part alone No one at his back

That hurt her htmare alone "What can I do to help?"

He cocked a brow at her question as if he couldn&039;t believe her offer, before he put his shirt back on But that look was quickly replaced with one that was hard and bitter "Send me back to my place and stay out of otten the fact that he was a prehistoric od? "This is where I should probably remind you of a certain Greek blood hound who has your na card Re friends or showinghe has to do is listen to rin "Because I once kicked his butt so well that he remembers it to this day" She approached him with a determined stride "You need so "No offense, but the last tih to let someone stand there, they stabbed me in it I like to think I learn from my lessons"

"Not everyone is treacherous"

"My experience says otherwise, and given your genetic link to soive me if I don&039;t put you on the list of trusted friends"

He was right about that, but she was nothing like her hter, too"

"Yeah, and by your own admission you&039;ve had a lot less contact with him than with your mother So I think you&039;ll understand if I side with caution on this one"

She couldn&039;t blame him for his suspicion How could she when she didn&039;t trust her et out of here, Kat I can&039;t do my job while I&039;m stuck in a nether realm"

"And I can&039;t let you out of here until I knohat your plans are"

He let out a disgusted breath "To stop the annihilation of mankind and the earth It&039;s a sio now?"

Part of her was amused, but the other part wanted to choke him for his obstinacy and secrecy "Why do you need the Tablet of Destiny?"

He closed the distance between theolden eyes snapping fire at her "Let me out of here, Katra Now"

"I can&039;t"

"Then I hope you can live with the death of humanity on your conscience" He indicated her sofa with his thuot any good DVDs I can watch? It&039;ll help drown out the screams for mercy Especially fronore"

His words cut her on theshe could stand was the thought of a child suffering He was hitting below the belt and it hurt "Damn you"

His features turned to stone "You&039;re too late Your led hat she should do She couldn&039;t keep hi could he last with Deod powers and Demon was a fierce SOB

"Do you understand what you&039;re up against?"

He gave her a duh-stare "If so as pathetic as a Greek Dolophonos can take ht, I deserve to die"