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"We need to get the two of you back to the Serengeti"

Susan was baffled by Acheron&039;s words "How do you knohere we&039;re staying?"

"I&039;m omniscient, Susan"

A chill went down her spine because he knew her na around" She glanced to Ravyn "You ever feel left out?"

"All the time"

Well, that answered that

As thearound the alley There was no sign of a battle having been fought here Not one Not even dust froentle breeze stirred down the narrow alley and everything looked oddly peaceful and quiet This was a tragic life the Dark-Hunters lived They gave their lives for mankind and no one even knew they were here And when they died, they vanished into nothing

It brought everything home to Susan with painful clarity How ht over the centuries? How many injuries had he tended without Acheron there to fix them? He really was alone with no one there for hione to the shelter and taken hiht made her ache for him

"Susan?"

She looked up at Ravyn

"You okay, babe?"

Nodding, she headed for the to feel a physical connection to hiave her a look that said he knew exactly what she was thinking

"Can you help us stop the hu the Dark-Hunters?" she asked Ash as they headed for Phoenix&039;s car

Ash opened the car door for her "That&039;s a loaded question, Susan And not as easy to answer as you&039;d like"

Ravyn paused by the driver&039;s side "Will you be at the club later?"

"Yeah I&039;ll catch you guys then"

Susan got into the car Ash closed her door at the same time Ravyn closed his

She watched Acheron step back from the car and turn back toward the hill As Ravyn started to pull away, she could swear Acheron evaporated into the e man"

"Yes, he is"

"Can&039;t he just kill off all the Daiht?"

"Probably"

"Then why doesn&039;t he?"

Ravyn glanced at her as he shifted gears "I have no idea I guess it comes down to what Ash would say Just because you can do so doesn&039;t mean you should There&039;s a lot of stuff in this world that doesn&039;t ine the Daimons and Apollites are in some kind of balance with the rest of us and if he killed them all off, it would destroy it "

"But you don&039;t know that&039;s true"

"No I&039;"

Susan considered that as they headed down the dark streets

Balance

It seewash to her, but then what did she know? She was only a reporter who up until two days ago knew nothing of their existence

"What do you think the Daimons will do now that Acheron is here?" she asked Ravyn

"I don&039;t know for sure, but if I were the, tired breath as he flashed hieti He could feel a presence inside the club that saddened him to the deepest part of his consciousness

Nick Gautier

Acheron hadn&039;t seen hiht Nick had killed himself and Ash had removed him from Hades and Arteht to

In one fit of anger, Acheron had been the one to curse hiuilt of that festered inside Acheron like an open wound he kneould never heal

And because of Nick&039;s hatred, Ash had been unable to train Nick and so he&039;d sent him to live with Savitar He didn&039;t knohy Savitar had freed him to this time and place No doubt Savitar knew, but he would never share that infor secrets than Ash was Hoished he could see Nick&039;s future But Ash was forbidden to see his own future, or the future of anyone he cared about

"No need to postpone the inevitable," he said under his breath He wasn&039;t a coward

Steeling hih the back door

Hea box of bottles from the storeroom

"Ash," he said, his eyes wide "You&039;re in town"

"Hi, Dori How&039;s the mate?"

"She&039;s fine How&039;s Simi?"

He could feel his Charonte de up his biceps to lay herself over his shoulder where she liked to sleep "Same"

"Is she with you?"

Siht pop in later"

"Give us a little warning and I&039;ll have Terra stock up on barbecue sauce"

"You got it" Ashto Terra and the cooks before he pushed his way through the door, into the club The hip-hop music here was loud It was "Grillz" by Nelly

Ash was surprised Nick could hang out with that playing Personally, Ash liked all kinds of music, but Nick didn&039;t really care for hip-hop or rap He only listened to metal and Cajun Zydeco

And Ash knew the instant Nick saw him The hatred went up his spine like an electric shock

Dreading the encounter, Ash turned to find Nick standing just behind hih with hi his death even while he faced him

Nick&039;s face was coed in I&039;m surprised you bothered"

"Hi, Nick"

"Fuck you" Nick knocked back his glass of whiskey, then glared at it "You knohat I hate et drunk?"

Nick put the glass on the tray of a waitress as passing by "It&039;s having to deal with you"

Ash shook his head It was still too soon for this Nick needed rabbed Ash&039;s arm as he started away and spun him around to face him "You&039;ll catch me now, you bastard"

Before Ash could ered back fro attention, he would have realized sonificant Ash didn&039;t feel the blow he&039;d just been given Dark-Hunters couldn&039;t strike each other But then Ash wasn&039;t like the others

His first instinct was to strike Nick back, but Ash caught hie to the Cajun The crowd around theet ahile the Weres looked around in nervous debate about whether or not they should come between two Dark-Hunters, or more importantly, if they should interfere with Ash

Nick&039;s face was contorted by rage "How could you destroy New Orleans?"

Ash frowned at hih that you killed me? Did you have to punish all rip"

He shoved Ash back, into a table "I&039;ve just spent the last few hours looking at the pictures at the people You could have stopped it and you didn&039;t "

Ash felt his anger snapping They were draay too much attention here in the bar "You don&039;t knohat you&039;re talking about"

Nick was relentless as he stalked Ash "Yes, I do I knohat you are You brought Kyrian and Amanda back from the dead You saved their baby fro to help my mother You clai to help the city when she needed you most "

"That&039;s not true, Nick I was there and I did what I could But even I have limits and rules about what I can and can&039;t do My God, you were like a brother toto hurt you?"

"You killed me, remember?"

"No I&039;ve loved you and yourin my entire life I never wanted to see the two of you hurt "

"Bullshit! One snap of your fingers and you could have deflected the storm Talon could have deflected it You refused to let him, didn&039;t you?"

Ash shook his head Fate wasn&039;t that easy to control "It&039;s not that siain

The people in the bar were getting restless now, especially the Weres Nick was draay too s that no one was supposed to talk about

"Lay off rabbed Ash by the front of his coat and pulled hih that he could whisper in his ear "Or what? You&039;ll kill reatly

Letting go, Nick stepped back and smoothed Ash&039;s lapels "You know, I&039; all the manners my mother tried so hard to teach ? Has she picked up any new guys lately?"

That succeeded in breaking the hold Ash had on his te Throwing his head back, he froze everyone in the bar Everyone They stood silently in place as the music continued to play while he and Nick faced each other Not as friends As enemies

Nick&039;s face actually paled as he saw Ash&039;s true form

"You never knehen to shut your rowl

"What are you?"

Ash looked down at his blue hands that were aze was hazy now fro his eyes, he shoved his emotions aside and returned to his human form Hoished he could erase Nick&039;s memory, but Nick was one of those one in a trillion people ere immune to Ash&039;s mind manipulation It hat had made them friends

Unfortunately, Nick wasn&039;t iod powers, and that hat had made them enemies

"For your own sake, Nick Stay away froain"

Nick gave an evil laugh "One day, Ash, I&039; to find a way to kill you for what you&039;ve done to the people I love"

"Don&039;t threaten me, boy You don&039;t have those powers"

"It&039;s not a threat," he said, his eyes burning "It&039;s a prorowled low in his throat as he pushed his way through the frozen people

"Keep walking, Ash But re the death blow to you that you&039;re the reason I&039;m here"

Ash paused and turned toward him "No, Nick You&039;re just anotherbut rabbed a bottle fro it at Ash

Ash splintered the glass bottle before it reached hi silently in the air for a full ten seconds before they fell to the floor as har on his heel, he headed for the door intent on putting as much physical distance between them as possible

He was so intent, in fact, that he failed to notice the one person in the corner asn&039;t frozen The one person who had witnessed the entire encounter

As the room returned to nor s they could definitely use