CHAPTER 17

Kyrian came awake with his hands tied above his head. He was positioned against a dark, dank wall inside an unfamiliar house. The old-fashioned room was lit by candles that cast dancing shadows around him and he heard whispers surrounding him. By the looks of the place, he would surmise it was an older home probably not all that far from his own house down in the Garden District.

Scanning the room, he found Amanda and Desiderius standing a few feet away from him with Desiderius’s arm draped around her shoulders.

Disbelief overwhelmed him.

Not again. Dear gods, not again.

How could he have been so damned stupid?

His mind had tried to tell him something had been wrong. He’d even known Desiderius would be able to get to Amanda. But he hadn’t listened. He’d let his love for her, his need for her, blind him.

Kyrian clenched his eyes shut.

What hurt most was knowing what Desiderius would do to her once he killed him. Without him to protect her, Amanda was at Desiderius’s utter mercy.

It really would be like Theone all over again. Once Valerius had executed him, the Roman had thrown Theone out, saying he didn’t want a whore in his bed who might ruthlessly hand him over to his enemies someday.

Since Theone had betrayed the military leader of the Macedonians and caused their defeat, she’d been unable to return home. The villa she had loved so much had been burned to the ground. Everything she’d held dear had been confiscated.

Persecuted by his countrymen, she had fled Greece to Rome where she ended up a prostitute in a rundown stew.

She’d died of disease less than two years after him.

In the end, she had caused the very fate she had tried so hard to avert.

Opening his eyes, Kyrian saw Amanda a few feet away from him. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck. With her hair pulled back, he could see her profile perfectly as she clutched a doll to her.

How could she do this to him?

But then, he knew. Desiderius’s powers had been more than she could take. Somehow, in spite of D’Alerian’s efforts, the Daimon had invaded her dreams and turned her mind.

Rage darkened his vision. He wouldn’t let her die. Not like this. In spite of his weakness, he grabbed the ropes and pulled as hard as he could.

“So, you’re awake.”

Desiderius and Amanda moved to stand before him. His eyes taunting, Desiderius placed one hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “It’s painful, isn’t it? Knowing I’m going to bed her before I kill her and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Go to hell.”

Desiderius laughed. “You first, Commander. You first.” He trailed one long, evil finger down the line of Amanda’s jaw. She didn’t react at all. It was as if she were in some kind of trance. “I would take her in front of you, but I never could stand an audience. I was never that twisted.” He laughed at his own joke.

Kyrian felt the rope slacken a degree. Working it, he put all his attention into gaining his freedom.

The ropes drew tight again.

Desiderius laughed. “Do you honestly think I’m so stupid as to let you get free?” He took a step forward and stood practically nose to nose with Kyrian. “This time, I won’t chance your survival.”

Kyrian smirked as if the Daimon were a little gnat buzzing by his head. “Ooo, if I were wearing boots, I’d be shaking in them.”

Desiderius eyed him in disbelief. “Don’t you ever get scared?”

Kyrian gave him a dry look. “I faced down an entire Roman legion with only a sword to protect me. Now, why would I be afraid of some two-bit, half-god Daimon with an inferiority complex?”

The Daimon hissed at him, baring his fangs. He grabbed the crossbow off the table and loaded a steel bolt into it. “You will learn not to taunt me. I am not one you mess with.”

“Why not? What makes you special?”

“My father is Bacchus. I am a god!”

Kyrian snorted. The first rule of war: make your opponent lose his temper. Emotions clouded judgment and made one do stupid things, and it would give him the opening he needed to get free and save both of them.

Besides, he liked the way the throbbing vein stood out in Desiderius’s temple. It let him know he hadn’t lost his touch when it came to taunting his enemies. “What you are is pathetic. You’re a bully and a psycho. No wonder Daddy has no use for you.”

Desiderius screamed in fury. He brought the crossbow down hard against Kyrian’s face.

Kyrian’s entire head ached from the blow. He tasted blood on his lips. Running his tongue over the cut, he tsked the Daimon.

“You know nothing of my life, Dark-Hunter. You don’t know what it’s like being born to die.”

“We are all born to die.”

“Oh yes, the humans and their finite lives that are three times the length of ours. How I pity them.”

He grabbed Kyrian by the throat and pressed his head back against the wall. “Do you know what it feels like to watch the woman you love decay before your eyes? Eleanor was only twenty-seven. Twenty-seven! I did everything I could to save her. I even brought a human to her and still she refused to take the soul that would save her. She was pure unto the end.”

Desiderius’s eyes turned dull at the memory. “She was so beautiful and gentle. I had begged my father for help and he turned his back on me. So I watched my beautiful wife turn old in a handful of hours. I watched her body age until it decayed in my arms.”

“I’m sorry for you,” Kyrian said quietly. “But it doesn’t excuse what you’ve done.”

Desiderius screamed his outrage. “What I’ve done? I’ve done nothing except be born to a cursed race while I watch the humans squander the gift of life they have. I do them a favor by killing them. I alleviate their boring, insipid lives.”

His blue eyes darkening dangerously, Desiderius curled his lip. “You know, I obtained a copy of your Dark-Hunter handbook when I killed one of your brethren ninety years ago. The entry that struck me most was the one where it said to always go for a Daimon’s heart. To strike at his most vulnerable spot.”

He aimed the crossbow at Amanda. “Your heart would be her, wouldn’t it?”

Kyrian masked his terror. His fear. Even though he was weak, he tightened his grip on the ropes holding him and lifted his feet up to kick Desiderius with all his remaining strength before the Daimon had a chance to hurt Amanda. Desiderius staggered back, the crossbow dropping away from her to point toward the floor.

“Run, Amanda!” he shouted.

She didn’t move.

Kyrian fell back against the wall. “Damn it, Amanda, please run for me.”

She didn’t appear to hear him at all. She merely stood staring into space as she hummed and gripped her doll.

Desiderius laughed as he righted himself. He licked the blood from his lips while he eyed Kyrian with malice. “She’s mine, Dark-Hunter. You can die with the knowledge that I will use her well before I take her soul and her powers.”

Desiderius smiled an evil smile a second before he shot the crossbow straight into Kyrian’s heart.

The force of the bolt embedding itself into his body drove him into the wall. Kyrian gasped at the pain of the steel biting into his body.

Desiderius came forward to stand before him. His eyes amused, he ran his finger around the small amount of blood that seeped from the wound. “What a pity Dark-Hunter blood is poisonous to drink. I’m sure it’s richer and thicker than what I normally have to live on.”

Kyrian barely heard the words as his heart struggled to beat. His ears buzzed. It was the most painful thing he’d ever felt. His sight dulling, he turned to look one last time at Amanda.

Her features were pinched as she watched him and for a moment he could pretend that she remembered him. That she knew he was dying and that she cared.

Had she been herself, he knew she would run to him.

Unlike his wife, she would cry when she heard of his death. And in a strange way, that comforted him.

Desiderius left him and went to pat her on the shoulder. “Go on, Amanda, kiss your lover farewell.”

Kyrian struggled to breathe as she approached him. He had so many things he wanted to tell her. So many things he wished he’d said to her while she’d been able to really hear his words.

At least he wouldn’t die alone.

“I love you, Amanda,” he whispered, hoping that somehow she would later recall his words to her and know that he meant them.

Her eyes blank, she leaned forward and covered his lips with her own and pressed her hand to his shoulder.

He felt the blackness of death descend over him and as he died, he heard her last whispered words. “I will love you for eternity, my dark warrior.”

Then everything vanished.

Amanda held her breath as she felt the heat seeping out of the medallion she clutched underneath the doll’s dress, into Kyrian’s lifeless body. Her hand shook as she waited for him to reawaken, and with every second that passed, she shook more.

It wasn’t working …

Oh God, no! Acheron had lied to her after all!

Tears stung her eyes as the medallion turned icy cold and fell from her grasp.

Still, Kyrian didn’t move.

He lay limp against the wall, his face pale. His body cold.

No!

It was over and Kyrian was dead.

No!

Desiderius’s evil laughter rang out through the dark room and made her entire soul weep in anguish.

Right then, she wanted to die, too. This was all her fault. She had stood by and let Kyrian die and had done nothing to save him. Her grief welled up and lodged as an unreleased scream in her throat.

“I love you, Amanda.” His words would haunt her forever.

Sobbing, she wrapped her arms around Kyrian’s body and held him close, willing him to wake up and speak. Please, God, take anything from me, but please let him live.

“Amanda?” Desiderius’s voice was sharp as he commanded her back to his side.

She held tighter to Kyrian, laying her head on his chest, beside the bolt, and willing her life force into him.

Amanda froze as she heard something. It was a faint sound, but it made her soar.

She heard Kyrian’s heart beating.

Pulling back, she watched as his eyes fluttered open.

Kyrian gazed into Amanda’s dark blue eyes that sparkled from her tears. No longer blank, her eyes stared into his with a purpose. And with love.

Her face softening, she passed her hand over his chest and the bolt shot free.

In that moment, he knew she hadn’t betrayed him. She had set him free.

“You have your soul back, Kyrian of Thrace,” she whispered as the ropes around his wrists unknotted. “Now let’s make this bastard pay.”

Desiderius screamed in fury as he realized what was happening. Kyrian didn’t have his Dark-Hunter powers, but it didn’t matter.

For the first time in over two thousand years he had his soul, and the feel of it and the knowledge that Amanda hadn’t betrayed him invigorated him.

The Daimon was a dead man.

Desiderius ran for the door.

It slammed shut. “I wouldn’t want you to leave the party so soon,” Amanda said. “Not after everything you’ve done to make us so welcome.”

“Amanda?” Kyrian said uncertainly.

She looked at him, her eyes shimmering ever so slightly in a way that reminded him of Acheron’s. “Desiderius unlocked my powers for me,” she said quietly. “He thought to use the telekinesis and telepathy for himself.” She looked at Desiderius and smiled. “Surprise. When you unleashed them, you lost all control over me.”

Desiderius struggled to open the door.

Kyrian stalked him like a hungry panther after its prey. “What’s the matter, Desiderius, afraid of a mere human?”

He turned with a snarl. “I can beat you. I’m a god.”

“Then do it.”

Cursing, Desiderius charged him. He grabbed Kyrian around the waist and drove him against the wall. Desiderius opened his mouth to bite him.

“Oh, like hell,” Kyrian snarled. “I didn’t just get my soul back to lose it to you.” He kneed the Daimon in the groin.

Desiderius stumbled away from him.

“Kyrian.”

He turned to see Amanda with his sword. She tossed it to him.

Extending the blade, he went for Desiderius. The Daimon dodged his swing and lifted his hand to astral-blast him. Kyrian cursed as the blast hit him in the chest right where the crossbow bolt had been. He staggered back.

Oh, it hurt.

Dazed, he couldn’t defend himself as Desiderius rushed him. He braced himself in expectation of Desiderius’s blow.

It never came.

Instead, Amanda popped the Daimon with a blast of her own.

Kyrian frowned at her. “Baby, can I handle this, please?”

She poked her lip out at him. “I was only trying to help. Besides, haven’t you been battered enough?”

Before he could answer, Desiderius ran at him again.

Amanda held her breath as she watched them fight. Even weak, Kyrian was amazing. He flipped over Desiderius and retrieved his sword. Desiderius grabbed a sword from the table and charged him.

The sound of clashing steel echoed as the two of them engaged.

“Go, baby,” she whispered, clutching her doll in her hands.

Kyrian would win. He had to. She’d gone through too much to see him die now.

As she watched them fight, she realized the sun was rising. She could see it just peeping through the closed windows.

Desiderius saw it and cursed, then he landed an upper blow to Kyrian that knocked the sword free from his grasp.

She held her breath.

Desiderius smiled as he stalked Kyrian away from where his sword had fallen. “Tell you what,” he said evilly. “Why don’t you give Hades my best?”

“Kyrian!”

Kyrian turned to see Amanda lob her doll at him. Instinctively, he caught it. He cursed as the blades in the doll’s feet bit into his hand.

A smile broke across his face.

Laughing, he ducked Desiderius’s blow, and caught the Daimon right in the heart with the doll’s feet. “Tell Hades yourself,” he said as Desiderius gaped.

Time stood still as Desiderius met Kyrian’s eyes. The Daimon’s face went through an entire array of emotions, disbelief, fear, anger, and pain.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Desiderius disintegrated.

Kyrian and Amanda stood frozen as the full impact of the moment hit them.

It was over. Desiderius was dead. Amanda and Tabitha were safe.

Kyrian had his soul.

And the woman he loved had saved his life.

His heart pounding, Kyrian dropped the doll to the floor and walked toward Amanda. “You are a very accomplished actress.”

“No. I was terrified.” She reached a shaking hand out to his chest. “I almost screamed when he did that. You have no idea how hard it was. Acheron told me that you had to die in order to be free and I knew I couldn’t kill you. I knew the only chance we had was to let Desiderius do it for me.”

Kyrian took her hand in his, and as his fingers brushed her palm, he felt the blisters. He turned her hand over to see the medallion symbols branded into her flesh. “It must have been excruciating.”

“I’m all right.”

He swallowed at her nonchalant tone. How could she dismiss what she had done for him? He arched a brow in disbelief. For him, she had ruined her hand. “You’re scarred for life.”

“No,” she said, smiling. “I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Second to you, that is.”

Kyrian cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “Thank you, Amanda.”

As she watched him, the joy faded from her face and she gave him a scared look. “Julian and Acheron said you could summon Artemis now and return your soul to her, if you chose to.”

“Now, why would I choose such a thing?”

She shrugged. “You’re a Dark-Hunter.”

He kissed her lightly on the lips. “What I am is a man in love with a woman. I want you, Amanda. For the rest of my blessedly short mortal life. I want to wake at dawn with you in my arms and watch our children play and fight. Hell, I even want to hear them back-talk me.”

She smiled at him. “Are you sure?”

“I have never been more sure of anything in my life.”

She took his hand and led him from the room.

Kyrian stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the early morning light in the living room. From habit, he stepped back as he stared at it.

The bright sunlight didn’t hurt his eyes. There was no burning of his skin.

Tightening his hand on Amanda’s, he forced himself to walk forward, through the door.

And for the first time in over two thousand years, he walked out into daylight. The feel of the sunshine on his skin was incredible. The warmth, the tingly early breeze. His heart pounding, he looked up into the light blue sky and saw the white clouds.

It was a glorious day.

One he owed to Amanda.

Scooping her up in his arms, he held her close. “All hail Apollo,” he whispered.

Amanda smiled as she hugged him dearly. “No. All hail Aphrodite.”