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Sin couldn&039;t breathe as his brother&039;s harsh words rang in his ears He looked down at Kat on his bed, and while she ing over into a de? She wasn&039;t bitten"

Zakar indicated her with his hand "Trustone of theh she was unconscious, her eyes were half-open Her body was completely limp Her features were as beautiful as ever Cal a den of her teeth changing Of her hands defor "She&039;s just sick"

Zakar laughed at hioddess, sick? Have you lost your et sick," he said defensively "It&039;s possible she gets sick, too"

"Do you really believe that?"

No, but he wanted to, desperately He honestly couldn&039;t cope with the thought of her becorip on her, afraid Zakar ht "What can I do?"

"Kill her"

"Bullshit!"

There was no mercy in Zakar&039;s eyes as he watched Sin "You knohat I know There&039;s no cure for this There&039;s no way back Once the conversion starts, it&039;s over for the victim All you can do is put her out of herKat

He couldn&039;t bear it In only a short time, she&039;d come to mean way too much to him "You&039;re immune to the demon venom"

"Am I?"

A cold chill went down Sin&039;s spine "Zakar"

Zakar laughed "You were a fool to co Kat to fall back on the ht him, and they slale set of fangs in his h Sin "Who the hell are you?"

"I&039;ed his fist into Zakar&039;s jaw, knocking hi else entirely

"Kytara!" Sin shouted "If you can hear et your ass here now"

As Zakar stood up slowly and wiped the blood from his lips he tsked at Sin "How pathetically weak you&039;ve grown that you now have to call for backup from a woman"

Sin raked his brother with a sneer "She&039;s not my backup She&039;s your babysitter" He blasted Zakar with a god-bolt

And he didn&039;t let up

Zakar tried to run, but he couldn&039;t Every time he tried to stand, the blast would knock hi in a corner, Sin kept him pinned until Kytara showed herself in the roo his brother "Good man Kill the bastard"

But Sin didn&039;t kill him He couldn&039;t do that to his own brother-he could only beat the shit out of him, and that only when Zakar deserved it

As soon as Zakar was unconscious, Sin stopped pounding him with the bolts He knelt by Zakar, as slu and frantic against Sin&039;s fingertips

Satisfied that his brother would live, Sin laid him down more comfortably on the floor and covered hi next to his bed "What do you know about gallu conversions?"

She shrugged "Not much really I&039;m the other pantheon, remember? Why?"

"Because I think Kat was bitten by the now so badly that her teeth were chattering And she still didn&039;t wake or respond to hiet her help"

Kytara&039;s face paled as she realized rong with Kat "There&039;s no help for this You know that"

He shook his head There was no way in hell he was going to let Kat die Not like this

Or worse, kill her for it There had to be so to move the heavens and earth to save her "I refuse to believe that" He picked Kat up from the bed and faced Kytara "Watch Zakar for ht, and whatever you do, don&039;t kill hi ave her theI don&039;t want my brother dead You said he&039;s fractured If that&039;s the case, then we can fix him But first I have to save Kat"

"It&039;s impossible, Sin, and you know it You&039;re insane and you&039;re wasting your time"

"We&039;ll see" He paused before he left "And Kytara, ifwhen I return, the Oneroi are going to be the least of your concerns"

She gave hi her, Sin closed his eyes and flashed him and Kat to the last place he needed to visit

Kalosis

And he naturally ht in front of a Charonte who eyeballed him as if he were a prime steak on a plate But Sin wasn&039;t in the nored the beast

"Apolly, narrow hallith no idea where to go to find her "I need you"

She appeared in front of hiry

Until she saw Kat in his ared to one of concern as she rushed forward to place her hand on Kat&039;s brow "What happened?"

For sorandmother hit a raw nerve in hi back cahtened as fear for Kat overwhelht of her dead

Sin hadn&039;t hurt like this in so long that it was all he could do to draw a breath He couldn&039;t lose her He couldn&039;t

Sing against the lump in his throat, he spoke in a hushed tone "I think she was bitten by a gallu de one of them I need you to heal her please"

Tears filled Apollyaze, and he saw a hopelessness there that tore through hier singed him "I saw you mend her when she was hurt You can heal this I know it"

She shook her head "I can heal wounds, but this this is in her blood It&039;s spreading through her I can&039;t fix this It&039;s beyond me"

He felt as if someone had just sucker punched him He shifted Kat in his arainst her feverish teiven hiht of never hearing another sarcasm-laden quip

It couldn&039;t be over He couldn&039;t lose her over so so stupid as a bite they&039;d failed to cauterize If not for helping him, she wouldn&039;t even be in this

No, there had to be solared at Apolly his eyes "I won&039;t let her die like this, Apolly Don&039;t tell me that out of two pantheons we don&039;t have a solution"

She brushed a loving hand through Kat&039;s pale hair "Maybe her father can do so He understands demons a lot better than I do"

A chill went over Sin at her words-the last known address for Ash was Arteazes with him "You have to take her to Olyht have a solution or cure for this"

Personally, he&039;d rather have both eyes gouged out than ever step foot on Olyain The last ti he had, including his dignity

But one glance at Kat&039;s beautiful face and the obvious pain she was in and he kneilling to walk through the fires of hell to make her better

"Where is he on Olympus?"

"Artemis&039;s temple"

Of course he was Where else would Acheron be when Sin needed hiht now Only Kat did

"All right," he breathed, "but I can&039;t go there on my own Arte her"

"Oh, we can only hope" Apollymi touched him on the shoulder "Do me proud," she whispered Then, louder, she called out to her son, "Apostolos?"

Ash&039;s ansas almost instantaneous "Yes, Matera?"

"I have Sin here with Katra She&039;s ill and she needs you, but I can&039;t send them there without your help"

Sin barely had time to blink before he found hie doors to his left opened to show Acheron in a pair of black leather pants and a long, heavy silk Atlantean robelike formesta that billowed out around his boots as he walked "What&039;s wrong?"

Sin allu bit her"

Ash&039;s face paled "Where?"

"I don&039;t know and I&039;m really not sure We went to a cavern to free my brother and several of them showed up and attacked us It&039;s the only time I think it could have happened, but she didn&039;t tellwhy she&039;d kept that secret froo She tolda fever I thought she was sick until Zakar told"

Acheron took her from his arms and carried her inside to a white chaise where he laid her down Sin&039;s heart sank at how pale she appeared Her eyes were rolled coer chattering

Then again, he wasn&039;t sure if that was a good or bad thing

"Katra?" Ash asked, kneeling down by her side When she didn&039;t respond, he laid his hand on her cheek

She screamed the instant Ash touched her face, then tried to bite him

Ash juht of her double set of fangs She really was converting Agony welled up inside of hi her He was nauseated and wanted to kill Kessar for this

"It&039;s too late, isn&039;t it?"

Ash looked up at the pain he heard in Sin&039;s voice And in that one moment, he had a realization about their relationship that made his insides shrink Why else would Sin have come here and not be after Artemis to kill her?

He could have just left Katra with Apollymi and returned home Instead, he&039;d come here with her and noatched over her with fear in his eyes and agony in his voice

There was only one conclusion to be drawn

Sin was Katra&039;s lover

Ash wanted to curse in anger, but it was too late for that They&039;d already been together He could feel it Besides, he barely knew his daughter-as he to parent her now and tell her that she shouldn&039;t have slept with Sin? She was a grooman

One as in deep trouble

And unfortunately, Ash couldn&039;t get her out of this alone To cure her, he needed help Standing up, he pinned Sin with a gimlet stare Ash had to know the truth of what existed between them

Katra&039;s life depended on it

"What does Katra mean to you?"

A wall came up inside Sin over that question Ash could al, but he couldn&039;t tell if it was uilt

"Why do you ask lanced back to his daughter, as thrashing about on the chaise There was only one way to save her, and it broke his heart It was the last thing he wanted to do to anyone But it was the only way to get the demon out of her

"I have to bond her to soe behavior and his words Ash was reticent about helping his daughter, and Sin couldn&039;t understand that He would have brought down the heavens to protect his own Why was Ash so upset now?

"Okay What&039;s the probleaze that seeht to his soul When Ash spoke, his voice was thick with e to have to su her blood If I know the deo of her until I&039;ve taken soto die from it The only way to save her will be to bond her to so their blood When I do this, she will need that person for the rest of her life to feed from She&039;ll be a vampire"

Sin hesitated He wanted to"But not a gallu"

"No She&039;ll be just as she was unless she goes too long without feeding Then she&039;ll turn cold and will feed fro her"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Still Ash was hesitant It was obvious he didn&039;t like the thought of bonding theether, and Sin couldn&039;t understand why until Ash continued "Blood bonds like this are very sexual She&039;s hter For an obvious reason, I don&039;t want to bond her to rowled that last word and spoken it with any more distaste?

But Sin could understand what had put a burr up Ash&039;s saddle As a father he&039;d have felt the sahter to aze fro the innocence of the only daughter I&039;ve ever known" His eyes hter actually choked Sin up and it gave him a new respect for Ash

Ash cleared his throat before he spoke again "I try to always learn from my mistakes I don&039;t like what you&039;ve done, but I&039; to see either of you die for it I&039;ve let e to people I care about But before I intrust her life to you, I have to kno much she means to you"

Sin held his ar to Ash he didn&039;t even want to ad before you in the te to kill Artemis What do you think Katra means to me?"

Ash inclined his head to Sin "This isn&039;t a typical blood bond I&039; Once this is done, there will be no way to undo it You understand?"

Yes, he did "Whatever it takes, Acheron, save her"

Ash actually looked relieved, but it passed by his face so quickly that Sin wasn&039;t sure if he saw it or is"

Sin went to her feet and held her ankles while Ash took her hands into his Then, in the blink of an eye, Ash changed forer human, he had mottled blue skin and black lips and horns His eyes were a monstrous red that swirled with yellow And while Sin watched, Ash&039;s incisors grew to long, razor-sharp fangs

Gaping, Sin had never seen anything like this "What are you?"

Ash gave a bitter laugh "I am death and sorrow" And then he leaned over Kat and bit into her neck

Kat screaht, but Ash didn&039;t stop Sin held her feet as tight as he could without hurting her while Ash drew back and spat her blood onto the floor Only it didn&039;t hit the marble Instead, it splashed into what appeared to be an invisible jar of some kind Her blood swirled around before it slid to pool in the bottoain and again like soas from a car And as Ash continued to spit the blood into the jar, the blood congealed Before long, it was forry demon It tried to run at Ash, but it couldn&039;t It seemed to be stuck to the jar&039;s bottoh it was headless, it e Sin had never heard before as it raised a fist, then slapped against the side of the jar, wanting release

Ash ignored it

Sin focused his gaze on the mottled blue skin of Ash&039;s hand as he held Kat&039;s hands in place Ash&039;s long black hair was draped over both of thelowed

"Kat doesn&039;t turn blue like you, does she?"

Ash cut Sin a harsh glare with those spooky fire eyes that made his weird-ass silver eyes suddenly attractive by comparison "I have no idea," he said before he returned to suck ed and hoped it wasn&039;t causing her pain He couldn&039;t stand the thought of her being hurt because of him

Once the demon was completely formed in the jar, Ash released Kat and sat back on his haunches Kat had long since stopped fighting theainst the white cushions, serene and un

Sin held his breath in fear She was so pale her skin was no longer healthy looking It held a grayish cast, and her lips appeared to be turning bluish

She was dying

"Acheron?" He hated the note of panic in his voice

Ash grabbed Sin&039;s arm and pulled it across Kat&039;s body "She&039;ll most likely attack you Don&039;t let her take too much blood or she could kill you"

"You sound like you&039;re going soallu spirit"

Sin sucked his breath in sharply as Acheron used a long black claw to slash open his wrist He hissed in pain Acheron held Sin&039;s arm over Kat&039;s lips to let the blood drip into her mouth As soon as the first drop touched her teeth, her eyes opened

Frantically she grabbed Sin&039;s wrist and held it to her mouth so that she could drink Her breath scorched hiet asat them, Acheron picked up the invisible jar with the de at them, and vanished

Sin was so relieved by Kat&039;s recovery that all he could do atch her He should be disgusted by what she was doing, but his gratitude was such that it didn&039;t faze hiladly open a vein anytiht until she released his wrist and pulled hier in her eyes an instant before she sank her teeth into his neck The pain was only brief before a deeply erotic pleasure tore through hi his mind He saw all kinds of moments from Kat&039;s past Her as a child, an adolescent as a woman

It took him a es slowed and he could hear actual sound bites while they danced through hiswith other handmaidens Saw her in Greece on a boat with a woman naed to a club in Minnesota where Kat was dancing with a blond woave hiht into what it must have been like for her when she&039;d viewed his dreah theher head in his hands while she fed, he saw her as a young wo at a white table, reading a small leather-bound scroll