Page 10 (1/2)

Danger spent a fitful day in her bed, trying to sleep and finding it al when she woke up, her heart racing, her es

Wicked drea to kill her No matter how hot the drea her into a craed and ill-keed for mercy until they were led outside, one by one, to the Place de Greve where the guillotine in its red-painted frahty-eight-pound blade falling down rang in her ears, along with the sound of the crowd of hu their deaths

But the weirdest, e of Alexion sitting to the side of the crowd, a la Mada a list of all their names so that the executioner (Acheron) would knoho next to e! Her ownshe needed was for so at her throat The horrifying screa in her ears Over and over, she saw the faces of the innocents who had been killed by a hungry ainst an entire social class of people It had been decades since she&039;d last recalled her huh her with stunning clarity and acidity Even worse, she re after the Revolution when it had been fashionable for Parisians to hold Victim&039;s Balls where the only people ere allowed to attend were those who had family slain by the Committee The attendees all wore red ribbons tied around their throats in remembrance of Madarueso her homeland, never to return

She hated theseabout the because of one ht into the family But for her, her father and his wife and her brother and sister wouldn&039;t have died

Why had she ever believed Michel&039;s lies? Why?

The guilt and shame of that was still raw inside her

She had killed her own fa asshole Tears gathered in her eyes as her throat closed so tight that she could barely breathe

"Papa," she sobbed, aching anew for the loss of her father He had been a good man who had taken care of the people orked for hilected either her or her ive up his noble titles so that he could nant

Had he done so, his life would have been spared But her mother had refused his suit Self-reliant and bold, her mother had never wanted a husband to tell her what to do She was one of the most renowned actresses of her day, and her ive up the stage for home and family

Even after her rejection, her father had pursued herher tothey needed It was only after Danger had reachedher mind

It was then he&039;d found himself a lady to wed

Even then, both he and his lady-wife had always been kind to her Her stepmother had welcomed her into their home with open arms Maman Esmee had swathed her in love and devotion

Not er, the lady had never looked down on her illegitimate status She&039;d quickly become one of her dearest friends and confidantes

Even now she could see their faces as they lovingly teased each other See Es for hats-Esreat weakness in life Never could she pass by a shop without dashing in to see what they had She would spend hours in the haberdashery trying on every bonnet and hat they had while her father watched her and laughed

Danger had loved them both so much

And then in the dreaded heat of suh France worse than a plague Thousands had died in a matter of weeks

Her brother, Edmonde, had only been four, her sister, Jacqueline, less than a year old, and her countryhtered theranted

None of them

Except for her husband He had earned every wound she had given him for his cruel betrayal And all because he had coveted her father&039;s hoht, and she had seen to it that he hadn&039;t lived long enough to enjoy it

Shaking with anger and grief, she pushed back her red and gold covers, then parted her gold curtains so that she could leave her antique tester bed

Alexion could rot in hell before she ever helped hio after the Dark-Hunters or anyone else She would never be part of such a witch hunt If Acheron wanted them dead, then he could do it on his own

She wasn&039;t about to help Alexion judge anyone She&039;d seen enough of that in her human lifetime

With her conviction set, she quickly washed her face, dressed, and went to find hihts fled when, after a brief search of her house, she found hi on the couch in her ely at home There was a stack of DVDs in front of hiht before If she didn&039;t know better, she&039;d swear that he hadn&039;t slept

She paused in the doorway as he literally used his finger to fast-forward the machine to a new scene selection

How did he do that?

"Where&039;s the remote?"

He turned his head toward her "Re you turn the television off and on with?"

He looked at his finger

Beer went to the DVD shelf beside her television and picked up the remote "How do you control the player without this?"

He waved his hand and the TV turned off

Completely baffled, she returned the remote to the shelf "You&039;re a total freak"

He arched a brow at her, but said nothing

Danger crossed the srateful that for once it arm It looked like any other hand well, except it was rather large and wellShe pointed it at the television

Nothing happened

"Are you sitting on a universal remote?" she asked suspiciously

He just stared innocently at her

"Get up," she said, pulling him to his feet so that she could see the cushions

No, there was no relared at hied "I wanted it off and off it went"

"Wow," she said, "that&039;s auess this makes me the luckiest woman in the world"

"How so?"

"I&039;ve found the only man alive on&039;t ever shout out, &039;honey, where&039;s the reave her a puzzled look thathim "You know, I don&039;t understand you You are an is and psychic abilities Why is it that you&039;re having such a hard ti me for what I am and for what I can do?"

"Because it flies in the face of every belief I&039;ve had up until now See, we"-she motioned to herself-"Dark-Hunters are supposed to be the baddest things after the sun goes down Then, in steps you and now I find out that our powers are nothing in comparison to what you can do It really messes with my head"

She could tell her words baffled him "Why does that disturb you? You&039;ve always known that Acheron was thein your world"

"Yeah, but he&039;s one of us"

His face did that blank thing it did every tiree with

"What?" she asked "Are you going to tell me now that Ash isn&039;t a Dark-Hunter?"

"He is unique in your world"

"Yeah, I noticed We all have It&039;s been the topic of ht discussions on the Dark-Hunter bulletin boards"

An evil, lint darkened his eyes "I know I spendall of you down murky paths just so that I can watch your minds work out the speculation I have to say all of you are highly entertaining as you grapple with the puzzle of who and what he is"

The idea of hi both aed nonchalantly "I have to do so to alleviate my boredom"

Maybe that was true and it was a rather harmless way to break monotony Still, she didn&039;t like to be toyed with

But that was neither here nor there At theissue to discuss with Monsieur Oddball "You know, I&039;ve done so"

"And?"

"And I&039;ve decided that if you and Ash want to play this whatever, ga that you seem to run every few centuries where you kill some of us off, then you can do it withoutsomeone else I&039;ve already seen firsthand where that leads and it&039;s not pretty I never want to wash innocent blood offwhat she said His gaze was dark and sincere "We&039;re not the Committee"

She was amazed that he understood what had prompted her decision, but it e, jury, and executioner In my book, that makes you worse If you want to kill me, then kill me I&039;d rather be a Shade than betray one ofbeen betrayedI would ever do to anyone else"

His eyes turned their eerie glowing green color "It&039;s easy to be brave when you have no real understanding of what being a Shade ry and thirsty all the time with no way to sate it No one can see you, hear you, yada yada yada It&039;s a fate worse than death because there is no eternal reward, no reincarnation It&039;s true hell I got it"

"No, Danger," he said his voice filled with pain "You don&039;t"

Before she realized what he was doing, he placed his hand on her shoulder His touch seared her with pain and ies She saw a man she didn&039;t know He stood in thefor someone to see him To hear him

He tried to reach out to people, but they all walked straight through his body As they did so, the sensation of their souls brushing through hilass It stung and burned so raw that it was an indescribable pain

She could feel the rancid hunger that gnawed so deep inside of him that it, too, defied description The thirst that burned his parched mouth and lips like some unquenchable fire that refused to be sated He was overwhelony, by the mental loneliness that ached for one second of conversation

So for death

Begging for forgiveness

Alexion released her He dipped his head down to speak angrily in her ear "That is what being a Shade feels like, Danger Is that really what you want?"

She struggled to breathe through the ehtined such a hell could exist Even now the ie of that man was still branded in her mind It hurt her in a way that surprised her "Who is he?" she asked, her voice tre

"His name is Erius and for more than two thousand years he has lived that horrific existence"

Alexion&039;s tone was deep and resonant He stood so close to her that as he spoke, his hot breath tickled her skin "At one tiht all he had to do was kill humans and suck out their souls like a Dairoup of Dark-Hunters to revolt against Acheron and Artemis He told them that he could lead theods too All they had to do was listen to hiainst the sudden lu for the truth that was finally coht "Are you the one who killed hi "Acheron did He went to hi, but Erius refused to listen He had it in his mind that Acheron had discovered the secret of the Dai the secret froer him more, and in the end that hat caused Erius to damn himself It was the last tiaze turned dull, haunted "After that I took over I go to them and pretend to be a Dark-Hunter too I try to explain to the with their assuins of his powers Usually a o hoo in No doubt if Acheron showed up around Kyros, Kyros would attack hiht Ancienttheir way out of conflict "They&039;re much more likely to listen to one of their own"

He nodded "By their very natures, Dark-Hunters are vengeful people They ronged in life and to ed in death They look for soet"

"Yes He&039;s s from you So once the kernel of the lie is planted, it takes root and grows into hatred and revolution"

She took a step away from him so that she could think clearly without his presence distracting her, then turned so that she could watch his face "Then why doesn&039;t Acheron tell the truth? Why does he hide his past froed "When I asked you to have sex withyou didn&039;t want to sleep with a stranger Yet for the first fifty years of your life as a Dark-Huntress, you burned through lovers like-"

She covered his mouth with her hand to silence that sentence "How do you know that?"

He nipped at her hand with his teeth, causing her to jerk it away His ss about all of you Just as Acheron does"

She didn&039;t like the thought of that "Did you spy on me?"

"No, but I know you I have many of the same powers that Acheron has Just as he can see into your heart and past, I can as well"

Danger tilted her head as she considered that She wasn&039;t sure she liked being transparent to anyone Everyone needed to be able to hide parts of themselves "Then do you know about Acheron&039;s past?"

She saw the shaaze before he , tired breath as he returned the DVD boxes to her shelf "Yes I discovered his past by accident"