“Danger can only be overcome by more danger.” ~ Greek Proverb
Xen sped out of the car and up the steps of his Charleston mansion. The hinges of the double doors screamed as he ripped them from the door jamb. Splintered wood littered the floor as he spun through the foyer like a tornado. Vases cracked in his wake.
He. Had. Failed.
They’d lost the trail and were unable to intercept Carissa’s abductors. With sunrise approaching, his ability to search for her would be null. It ate at him. He did not trust rogue vampires. He’d seen their handiwork on humans far too many times. Desperate, his mind raced with every possible resource he could pull in to help.
“Skata!” He slammed his fist on the table and fractured the marble top. “Ares!” he barked.
A blinding light encased the room. He raised his hand to shield his eyes.
Ares stood before him. “You rang?” came a deep, throaty voice that shook everything in the room.
“Cut the crap, Ares. I’m royally pissed.”
“Is the bad vampire going to bite me?” Ares liked toying with those around him and did his best to induce anger. He fed off rage. Xen tightened his fists and reigned in some of his fury.
“I have asked you here because I need to know the position of demons. They’ve involved themselves with rogue vampires and taken a human girl.”
“And I should care—why?” He cocked his head and sneered.
Ares’ displeasure at Xen’s request was evident.
“The human girl they took is mine and does not belong on their menu. I want her back.”
“Good for you, Vampire,” Ares mocked.
Xen’s anger danced up a notch at the jeer. “I repeat, Carissa doesn’t deserve to be a delicacy for some demons or rogue vampires.”
Ares stepped in front of Xen’s desk. He pressed his hands on the expensive wood and came face to face with him.
“What. Is. Her. Name?”
“Carissa,” Xen repeated.
“I got that part. The surname?”
Now Xen was intrigued. He narrowed his eyes. “Alkippes,” he breathed.
“No.” The roar from Ares shook the whole house. Kane burst through the library doors with a sword in his hand, ready for action, but put it down when Xen nodded that everything was alright.
“You will find the girl.” Ares spat his order.
Xen raised his eyebrows. “A minute ago, you couldn’t have cared less who had her. What and who exactly is she to you?” Xen glanced over at Kane, whose expression mirrored that of his own.
“She is my daughter.”
Kane looked at Xen and spoke the words on the tip of his tongue. “You’re fucking kidding.”
“You have no idea how this complicates things,” Xen emphasized. He knew firsthand that there’d be no room for subtlety with Ares. “You see, she’s my fated.”
“That is not possible,” growled Ares.
“Tell that to the Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.” Xen clenched his jaw. Even the gods could not change what the Fates had decreed.
Ares glared at him. His lips curled. In that moment they were equally affected by the circumstances.
“I want my daughter back without a scratch, otherwise it will be your head, Xenocrates.”
Xen sped around his desk, coming nose to nose with Ares.
Ares pushed Xen out of his space. The nudge only added to Xen’s fury. He ground his teeth together and his muscles quivered. His control slipped from the tightrope he’d walked on since Carissa’s abduction. He pushed Ares, sending him flying against a bookcase. The god’s retaliation came quickly, fire bursting from his hands. Xen sidestepped and moved in for the mock kill, his fingers around the god’s throat and his sword pointed at his neck. They were locked in a mirror hold. Every ounce of Xen’s being knew that Ares could not be defeated easily, and he had only gotten this close to the god because Ares had allowed him to. The sword in Ares’ hand broke the skin on Xen’s throat.
“Control your anger, Xenocrates.”
Xen released Ares. A lump formed in his throat. “This situation ...”
“Has clouded your thinking,” Ares finished.
He opened his mouth but closed it again.
“And I accept your apology.” Ares’ voice dripped with sarcasm.
Xen should not have struck him. The god before him was his mentor, his trainer. Ares had saved him from the Lamiae and recruited him, persuaded him to swear an oath to protect humans. A surge of air escaped his lungs. “I have every intention of getting her back, but I need your help,” he uttered.
“You know I cannot directly intervene, as much as I would like to break the rules. Zeus would not approve, even if she is my daughter. I can only help her if she calls me, and she cannot do that because she does not know I exist, or that I am her father.”
“Give me any info on any demon activity and I’ll do the rest.”
“Tonight. You have my word.”
Xen nodded.
“Bring her back.” A thin line of silver mist swirled where Ares had stood a moment before.
Xen straightened to his full height and Kane stepped into his space. He spoke before his lykos friend could utter a word.
“I guess words escape you, but I am certain they would be along the lines of ‘you certainly know how to pick them’.”
“Fuckin’ A, Xen,” Kane admitted. “You read my mind?” His forehead creased.
“You’re projecting rather loudly.”
“Fuck.”
“Yes, we covered that point.”
“I can’t believe you mated with the daughter of Ares. Of all the women in the world, it had to be her?”
“It’s not mine to question. The Fates have chosen.” The fact she was the daughter of a god made no difference to him. She belonged by his side.
“I’m just blown away.” Bug-eyed, Kane shook his head.
“Noted. Now let’s go over how we lost the trail.”
Xen was up early the next evening, pacing the library floor. Nothing alleviated the wide-open chasm in his chest. His anger fluctuated from one moment to the next. It took all his restraint to contain the beast that wanted nothing more than to shred everything around him.
The doors swung open. Kane walked over to where Xen had worn the hardwood floor out with his restlessness.
“Any news?” he asked.
“We’ve got a position from an unknown source—Myrtle Beach. Don’t have a number on vamps, but we’ve got about eight demons confirmed as a definite.”
“Let’s move. I’ll be requesting the pleasure of going in first.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Just keep your head attached.”
“I intend to, lykos.” He clenched his jaw then took a few long strides over to his bookcase and hit a button. Gears crunched and the sound of a latch opening echoed in the room. He pushed a section of the bookcase and it swiveled inwards. Beyond lay a weapons room.
Combat gear hung at one end of the room—boots, pants, tops and vests. Xen changed quickly, strapping a knife to his leg before walking over to where the swords were stored. He pulled a double-edged sword and a curved single-edged sword from the shelf.
Kane raised an eyebrow at the selection. “Going for maximum damage.”
“They will not live long enough to regret their actions.”
“How will we distract the vampires? You know they’ll pick up our scent.”
“Send in your human team first and we’ll use the D-12 spray we developed last month. It will conceal our scent.”
His mind drifted back to Carissa. What if they’d hurt her? “And ask the lab if they could give me one of those trial injections for repelling the desire for blood.”
Kane tugged on a vest and slid knives into the pockets, then chose his swords. “This is going to be bloody.”
“The only way I like it,” Xen sneered before sheathing his swords to the back of his vest.