Stygian

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Damn it! Why hadn’t he thought of that? But he hadn’t used those powers in centuries. So used to hiding what he could do because of the way the others reacted, he’d all but forgotten them. I’m so sorry, Phoebe …

  In that moment, he hated himself. He’d turned her into a monster for no reason.

  “Urian?”

  Heartbroken, he brushed the blood from her lips with his thumb. “I’m right here.”

  “Where’s my mother and sister?”

  He shielded her eyes from their bodies. “They didn’t make it, sweetie.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. Sirens began to wail and too late, Urian realized the size of the crowd around them. All staring. The prudent thing would be to try a spell or …

  Fuck it. Let the human mind rationalize it as space aliens or whatever psychosis they wanted to name it. Mass hysteria. Hallucination. They had more excuses than stars in the heavens. It wasn’t his concern.

  Phoebe was. His only concern was making sure she didn’t get taken to a hospital where they wouldn’t understand her now Daimon blood.

  So with that thought, he used his powers to teleport her to the one place he knew she’d be safe. The only place where his father couldn’t find her or hurt her.

  Elysia.

  The minute they made an appearance inside the secure underground facility, alarms went off. Urian cringed at the piercing shriek that threatened to shatter his already abused eardrums. Phoebe covered her ears and cringed against his shoulder.

  Braden, along with two dozen guards, came running with weapons drawn to surround him.

  Urian took their panic in stride. “Well, I’d put my hands up, but I don’t think Phoebe would appreciate it.”

  Braden rolled his eyes. “Sheez, Uri, what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to ask a favor and I need a doctor.”

  Braden’s gaze went to Phoebe. “You know our laws.”

  “And I know what you owe me. You know what you owe me. I need this from you. Don’t make me beg. Worse, don’t make me angry.”

  Braden only hesitated for three heartbeats before he nodded, then motioned for the guards to lay aside their weapons. “Follow me.”

  Urian glanced down at Phoebe as she began whimpering in pain. “Stay with me, agapi mou.”

  “My head hurts so much.” She twisted her fist in his shirt.

  “I know. It’s the soul. Just breathe through it.”

  Once they reached the infirmary, Urian followed Braden into a room in the back and laid her down on the hospital bed. He stepped back as a stern-looking female doctor came in. “We don’t treat Daimons.”

  Braden snorted. “You will treat this one.”

  “Why’s he so special?”

  “He built the facility you’re standing in.”

  Her jaw went slack. “Excuse me?”

  Hands on hips, Urian smirked. “You heard him. And I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”

  She gaped.

  “Yeah, you heard me. I bought into equal rights. You’re an Apollite. Means you’re more than capable of fighting back. And my fiancée’s life means a lot more to me than yours does. Save it or lose your own.”

  Irritated at him, she reached for a pair of latex gloves and made a grand show of putting them on before she went to tend to Phoebe. “Is he always that big a dick?”

  “No,” Phoebe said, panting and weak. “Sometimes he’s worse.”

  That succeeded in making the doctor laugh. Shaking her head, she forgot about Urian as she began tending to Phoebe’s injuries. Which was more than fine with him.

  Satisfied that the doctor wouldn’t hurt her, he left them alone and stepped outside the room to speak with Braden.

  Tall and blond, he was almost even in height with Urian. Like almost all Apollites. Since they were direct descendants of Apollo, the blond hair was almost always a staple. Though through the centuries some of them, such as Phoebe’s family, had married humans or other creatures. So it wasn’t unheard of to meet an Apollite with reddish hair or even a brunette. Still, it wasn’t considered normal for an Apollite to be anything other than blond. And they were almost always tall and brown-eyed.

  Braden and his kinsmen had been civic leaders here in Elysia since Urian and Davyn had helped them establish the huge underground bunker back in the early days of America. Back when Theo’s daughter had fallen in love with an Apollite who had wanted a safe haven for his family to hide. Because they were Cult of Pollux followers, Urian had known better than to ask his father about bringing them into Kalosis.

  Since the night they’d mourned Tannis, the CoP had been banned from their domain and if anyone mentioned it to Stryker, they came up short a pair of fangs.

  And testicles.

  Because he and Davyn had helped them establish their city, and were quick to come if they had any kind of trouble with Daimons who didn’t abide by their laws, they were given special privileges.

  Like being able to come here even though Daimons were banned.

  Urian arched a brow at him. “Aren’t you going to ask what you’re going to ask?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I know you heard what Phoebe is to me. Aren’t you curious?”

  Braden nodded. “That and why you brought her here.”

  “Because if I take her home, my father will kill her.” Urian let out a tired breath. “In all these centuries I’ve never asked for anything or any kind of payment. I’m asking now.”

  “You know it’s forbidden.”

  “So is my helping you. Yet here I am.” He gave Braden a pointed stare.

  At least he had the good sense to look shame-faced.

  “C’mon, Braden. I know you have the ability to bend some of the rules. Phoebe’s harmless. She’s never taken a soul and she never will, I swear to you. She’s half human. More a babe than the infants here. She’s not even tasted blood to live on. Not until tonight when I forced her to drink mine to save her life.”

  His eyes widened. “Half human?”

  He nodded. “Another reason I don’t dare take her near Kalosis.”

  Braden didn’t say a word—he headed straight into the room.

  Urian went after him.

  The doctor had Phoebe covered by a sheet. She was still pale, but some of her wounds were beginning to heal. However, the doctor held a peculiar expression on her face.

  “Millicent—”

  “She’s part human,” she blurted out, cutting him off. She met Urian’s gaze with an incredulous gape. “You saved the life of a half-human Apollite?”

  “I love her.”

  “That’s what she said. And I told her you were a bastard. Then she quickly informed me that I didn’t know you at all.”

  He didn’t know why, but those words sent a warmth through him the likes of which he’d never known before. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “She shouldn’t be. I don’t know what’s in your blood, boy, but yeah, I think she’ll pull through.”

  Braden crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you think she’s dangerous?”

  Millicent didn’t hesitate with her answer. “No. Not at all. She strikes me as the kind of person who picks a spider up on a napkin and releases it out the back door instead of killing it.” She jerked her chin toward Urian. “He’s the one who’s lethal.”

  She was right about that. “Only when crossed. Or annoyed.”

  Which was probably most of the time, and easily done, but that was another matter.

  Braden let out a tired sigh. “All right, then. So long as she only feeds from you, Urian, she can stay. But she can’t leave here.”

  “I’ll make sure that she knows that.”

  “Very well then. We’ll make sure she’s taken care of and given a place to stay.”

  “Thank you, and Davyn and I will make sure you have extra protection.”

  “You better, because I’m holding you both personally responsible for everything she does.”

  August 23, 1

990

  Urian took a deep breath as he waited in the small Apollite temple for Phoebe. Dressed in a kilt with his long hair worn loose about his shoulders, he felt so ridiculous. He even had what was tantamount to a furry purse hanging over his junk, and making him nervous as hell that it was going to accidentally pop him too hard and put him out of commission. But this was what Phoebe wanted him to wear for their wedding. So here he was.

  Looking like an idiot to make her happy.

  Gah, what part of you’re marrying a Greek Daimon and not a Scottish Highlander did you miss, woman?

  If he ever met her sister Cassandra he was going to beat the holy hell out of her for her sick romance novel fetish that had put this idea in Phoebe’s head.

  But as the doors opened slowly to show Phoebe on the other side dressed in a shimmering gown of flowing white silk that hugged her lithe body to perfection, all complaints scattered. Mostly because all the blood drained from his brain and pooled to the center of his body.

  Um, yeah. For her, he’d set himself on fire.

  Especially when her gaze met his over the single white rose wrapped in red and white ribbons that she carried, and she gave him that sweet, shy smile.

  His heart pounded as she headed toward him with Braden at her side to be her sponsor for their union. How weird that after all the times he’d been married, he was actually nervous.

  Phoebe couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at the sexiest man alive. He was completely gorgeous. Tall, lethal.

  He was hers.

  The only thing that could make the day better would be to have her family with her. For a moment, her eyes teared, but she refused to be sad. Not tonight.

  She wouldn’t regret what she’d lost. For weeks now, she’d been crying. There was nothing to be done about that. It still burned and hurt and ached. Worse, was knowing that her father and Cassandra were still alive, and that they both thought her dead. But the truth that she was a Daimon would be even more cruel.

  So she was learning to live her new life.

  With Urian.

  And tonight, they would be united.

  With a ragged breath, she took his hand. Braden pulled the ribbons from her rose and wrapped them around their combined hands to join them together. Then he moved to stand in front of them to act as their officiant for the ceremony.

  Phoebe licked her dry lips as she stared up at her gorgeous Daimon.

  His blue eyes glowed with warmth and love as Braden began their ceremony. “It is through the light that we are born and through the night that we travel. The light is the love of our parents who greet us and welcome us into this world, and it is with the love of our partner that we leave it.

  “Urian and Phoebe have chosen to be with each other, to ease their remaining journey and to comfort one another in the coming nights. And when the final night is upon us, we vow to stand together and ease the one who travels first.

  “Soul to soul we have breathed. Flesh to flesh we have touched. And it is alone that we must leave this existence, until the night comes that the Fates decree we are reunited in Ouranlie.”

  Ouranlie was the highest point of Katateros where only the purest of souls could reach. It was considered the highest point of Atlantean heaven. Reserved for saints, heroes, and soul mates.

  Braden moved to the sacred font where they kept an elaborate gold cup housed. Engraved with an image of the three Fates, it was reserved for weddings and special feasts. He took it to Phoebe first.

  Urian held the cup while Braden pulled out a small knife and cut a tiny incision on her wrist so that he could place some of her blood in the cup. Then he did the same with Urian.

  Once they had an equal amount of blood in the cup, Braden swirled it around three times clockwise and then counterclockwise. He whispered a prayer beneath his breath.

  Braden handed the cup to Phoebe for the first drink, and then she handed it to Urian, who drank from the same spot she did. He handed the cup to Braden, and as was their custom, Urian leaned down to kiss his wife and mingle their blood while it was still on his lips.

  Braden returned the cup to the pedestal, then came back to stand in front of them. “Now we present, Phoebe Jane Peters. She is unique in this world. Her beauty, grace, and charms are the legacy of those who have come before her and will be gifted to those who are born through her.

  “This man who has chosen to unite with her, Urian Thánatago, on the other hand, stands before us a product of honor and integrity. A paragon of his parents, he sheds his house to unite with his wife and become Urian Peters. It is your similarities that brought you together and your differences that add variety and spark to your life. May the gods bless and protect your union and may you be blessed with fertility and happiness. And may the two of you enjoy every minute left to you.”

  With those words spoken, Braden tied the ribbons into a double knot. Hopefully, the ribbons would last for seven days. At the end of which, they’d be cut and buried for luck.

  “Congratulations.” Braden clapped Urian on the arm before he left them alone.

  It was only then Phoebe realized how alone they were. “I’m sorry, Urian.”

  “For what?”

  “That you don’t have any of your family here.”

  He shrugged. “It’s all good. I have you and that’s all that matters to me. Besides, I’m grateful that none of my family are here to see me dressed like this. My father would shit his pants.”

  She laughed. “You’re terrible! And I don’t want to hear it. Especially since it’s not like you didn’t wear a toga back in the day.”

  Sputtering, he clutched at his chest. “Ah! You wound me. It was a chiton, woman! Hello? Not a Roman.”

  “Oh whatever, like anyone knows the difference or cares!”

  “I care!”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Only you would.”

  Suddenly, Urian had a strange feeling.

  “Something wrong?”

  He glanced around the room as his skin crawled. “You feel that?”

  “Feel what?”

  “Like we’re being spied on.”

  Phoebe shook her head. “You’re being paranoid. How could they?”

  Maybe, but it was tangible. His flesh literally shivered with it. Unmistakable.

  Something wicked danced on his spine. Like Acheron on steroids.

  Unmistakable. And malevolent as hell.

  June 15, 1996

  Urian had barely taken out two of their own who’d been chasing his sister-in-law when he rounded a corner and ran into the last creature he’d ever expected to see.

  The god Helios.

  And judging by his expression, he wasn’t happy. In fact, if looks alone could kill, Urian would be splintered.

  “What’s up, sunshine?”

  That had the intended effect. The Titan hurled a god-bolt at him.

  But instead of harming him, it hit his arm and caused it to light up and deflected. The moment it did, the ancient god’s eyes widened. He blasted Urian again.

  And again, nothing happened.

  His nostrils flared.

  “Losing your touch?”

  “Don’t you dare taunt me.” Helios narrowed his gaze. “So you’re the one whose been slaughtering my soldiers.”

  Urian shrugged with a nonchalance he didn’t feel, because he knew he was dancing with the devil. “Returning the favor.”

  “Says the boy playing with fire?”

  Urian’s blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

  A slow, evil smile crept across his face. “When you keep a lot of secrets, they will creep out. There’s only so long you can keep the lid on a boiling pot. And you know what you’ve done.”

  Helios vanished.

  Panic filled Urian as he considered those words and the fact that Helios must know what he’d been doing to protect Phoebe.

  The god was right. Every night Urian woke up, he felt like he was balancing on a razor blade. To keep his wife happy, he was lying to his father, protecting her last sister with everything he had—even killing his own people to do it.

  To protect his own ass and marriage, he lived in terror of Phoebe finding out that he’d been the one who’d led the strike team that had taken out her eldest sister and her grandparents. That he’d been personally responsible for about half of her childhood traumas and those of her mother.

  He was the bogeyman that caused her to wake up in the middle of the day, shaking.

  What have I done?

  His happiness had been bought on a lie. Sooner or later, it would unravel. He knew that. It had to.

  All things built on a lie would always come crumbling down, sooner or later. The truth about Cassandra was going to come out. They would all learn it and it would destroy her. People didn’t like being lied to, and they always turned on the liar and dragged them to beat them twice as hard for the betrayal. It was the worst thing anyone could ever do.

  Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. Urian turned, ready to fight.

  Then he smirked at the last person he expected to see.

  Ruyn Widowmaker.

  And he wasn’t alone. He was traveling with a demon Urian had only come across a few times over the centuries, but he was one he knew better than to get tangled up with.

  Shadow. His allegiance was always questionable at best. One never really knew where his loyalties lay. Not even with himself. He could be a spiteful bastard. And when he saw Urian, the expression on his face said he had about as much trust for Urian as Urian had for him.

  That they’d rather set each other on fire than pass pleasantries.

  “Should I ask what trouble you two are getting into?”

  Ruyn smiled. “Mostly mayhem. You?”

  “Same.” Urian jerked his chin at Shadow. “I see you’re hanging out with a whole new level of loser.”

  Shadow made a face at that. “I’d be insulted, but for the fact that coming from you and your class of demon, that’s a compliment.”

  “How you figure?”

  “My boy could be hanging out with a lot worse. He could be with a Daimon.”

  Urian snorted. “Touché.”

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