Stygian

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  By your actions you will be saved. Savitar’s prophecy for Acheron.

  Styxx frowned at him. “That’s a peculiar look on your face, Urian. What thought is in your head?”

  He shook it off. “Irony.” Smiling, he smirked at Sin. “How you and Yaya getting along these days?”

  Sin laughed. “Artemis hates it when I call her that, which is why I do it … often.”

  The laugh from Styxx was so evil that it actually sent a chill over Urian, and it caused Sin to excuse himself.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Why are we still here?”

  Urian shrugged as he looked around the oddball group. Simi was plowing her way through the desserts with her sister. The Peltier bears were dancing to the Howlers who were playing a polka for Tory’s aunts who were dancing with a group of wereleopards. Dev Peltier danced with his niece on his feet. Tabitha and Valerius Magnus were in a corner with Kyrian and Amanda Hunter and their children.

  The Kattalakis lycanthropes were huddled in a corner … but he felt the same thing that Styxx did.

  Out of place. Out of time and sync.

  End of the day, no one here would notice if they left. They’d done their duty. Put in their appearances. Bought the right presents.

  Yeah …

  Styxx might share blood with Acheron, but they weren’t really family. And Urian wasn’t anything to any of them. A barnacle to Acheron and babysitter for Simi didn’t really count.

  Urian set his beer aside. “I’m ready if you are.”

  “Brother, I was ready as soon as the ceremony ended.”

  Snorting, Urian inclined his head and transported them back to Styxx’s apartment.

  Styxx let out a long sigh and immediately began peeling off his tux. “Thank the gods.”

  He resembled that remark. Urian pulled his tie off and opened his collar, then decided to just use his powers and change it out for a black T-shirt and jeans.

  Styxx snorted. “I envy you those powers.”

  “Yeah, they can be handy.”

  Awkward silence filled the room. “Well,” Urian finally said to break it. “Guess I’ll head back, unless you need something?”

  Styxx shook his head. “All good.”

  Urian didn’t leave, though. He paused to ask the one question that had been bothering him. “Have you tried to date while you’ve been here?”

  Styxx let out a light laugh. “I had perfection. Anything else would be settling.”

  “Yeah, but the loneliness …”

  “Is hard. But you never know how strong you can be until you have no other choice.” Styxx clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s my path, Uri. You’re not me. If you’re lonely, go find a beautiful woman. You deserve to be loved.”

  “What if you’re right?”

  “What if I’m wrong?”

  Urian laughed.

  Styxx jerked his chin toward the door. “Go on, Urian. Find your happiness. Or at least a good drink.”

  “All right. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Styxx inclined his head to him. “Take care.”

  But as Urian left, he had a bad, bad feeling that he might not see Styxx again.

  That was utter foolishness. He’d just about convinced himself of that when he reached Sanctuary in New Orleans and teleported into the third floor, which was reserved for such activities. Because the club was owned by a family of Were-Hunter bears, they took a lot of precautions when it came to catering to their “special” clientele.

  Of all the limanis located throughout the world, none was more famous or legendary than Sanctuary. The Peltier bears had seen to that. Its reputation for fairness and hospitality set it apart.

  Urian came here because he knew his father had a spy among their happy family.

  He just didn’t know who. Sadly, neither did Davyn. They’d both been trying to find out, and that had been one piece of trivia that kept eluding them.

  Since the staff tonight would be minimal, Urian thought that maybe he might get a better handle on who to look for. So with a nod to the guard on the “landing pad,” he headed for the stairs so that he could walk to the bottom floor and not spook any humans in the bar and grill.

  It was weird to be here with so few Were-Hunters. Most of them were still at Ash’s wedding. Urian headed to the bar, where Tony, one of the few humans who worked here, was bartending and ordered another beer.

  He’d just gotten it when he had that unique sensation at the base of his neck that alerted him a Daimon was near.

  Urian turned to skim the bar …

  No one was there. Now that was weird. Disturbed, he walked all the way through both levels. Because he still had the sensation. It was unmistakable.

  There was a Daimon here.

  He couldn’t find them.

  And that had never happened before.

  What the hell was going on?

  January 24, 2009

  Urian tried calling Styxx again, and again it rolled to voice mail. Afraid Styxx might have slipped into another coma, Urian flashed himself to Styxx’s condo.

  He knew the minute he materialized that something wasn’t right. Everything about the condo felt off. But glancing around, he saw nothing out of place.

  “Styxx?”

  No one answered.

  He quickly searched the condo to find it empty. This time when he went into Styxx’s bedroom, he saw that Styxx had pulled out the sketchbook page of him and Phoebe and left it on top of his desk with a folded note. Fear cinched his gut as he opened it and read.

  Urian,

  You’re the only one who will notice that I’m not here. Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything particularly stupid. I just don’t want to live in a world I don’t understand anymore.

  When I find my place and the peace I need to function, I’ll be in touch. Until then, take care, my brother. And thank you for being my friend.

  S

  Grinding his teeth, Urian wanted to find Styxx and beat the shit out of him for the pain he felt right now, and he didn’t know why he felt it. Why should he care? He barely knew Styxx.

  It must be that they were kindred spirits. Styxx was the only one who really understood about Phoebe. After almost six years, everyone else had lost patience with his unwillingness to move on and find someone new to love.

  But it wasn’t that easy. Not when you had a past that was so hard to share with another person. One that left you bleeding and vulnerable. It was difficult to open up to anyone because the moment you did, you knew you ran the risk of being hurt worse, and humiliated should they ever tell your secrets, and when you’d been hurt all your life by others …

  There was only so much bravery in any given soul. And while Urian was more than willing to risk his life, he’d never again risk his heart. He was done with that shit.

  Not even sex was worth the possibility of getting emotionally attached. He’d rather take things into his own hands than risk going through one more bout of Xanthia-style psychodrama, or worse, Xyn or Phoebe heartbreak.

  At his age, it just wasn’t worth it.

  That level of burn was unending.

  To finally find the courage to trust and to dare lay your heart in the hands of another and then to lose them was the ultimate cruelty. And it was not something you ever got over. Ever.

  Six years was just a blink of the eye. And apparently so was eleven thousand. As he well knew. ’Cause not a day went by where he didn’t think about Xyn.

  If he closed his eyes right now, he could still see the red of her hair in his hands. Feel her lips tickling his skin. Smell her scent on a stray breeze. She was every bit as deeply embedded in his soul as Phoebe.

  They had left him changed. Had left him marked.

  And in the end, they had left him abandoned.

  Lost.

  He couldn’t go through it again. He’d rather be dead.

  Urian cleared his throat. “Good luck, brother. I hope when you find a way to sleep through the night and breathe ag

ain, you’ll share the secret with me.”

  Because right now, he still wasn’t sleeping. Some days and nights, he barely functioned.

  July 4, 2009

  Urian cocked his head as he watched Xirena and Simi arguing. “Um, demons? What exactly are you doing?” ’Cause from his vantage point as he entered the room, it sounded like they were attempting to decide what flavor of barbecue went best on a baby to eat it.

  The two of them were in the throne room of Katateros, which Ash had turned into a giant living room, with four boxes of Burberry layettes for an infant girl and were about to come to blows in their argument.

  Simi got up from her furry purple bean bag chair. Dressed in a short black ruffled skirt and crop top, she pursed her lips. “Akri-Uri, tell the Simi’s idiot sister that the hickory sweet sauce is better with the pink baby! ’Cause it more tasty and sweet!”

  Xirena actually let out a burst of flames. “No, Xiamara! For baby, you must have more spice for the digestion. You need it!”

  Yeah, no, that sounded like they planned to eat someone’s baby.

  At a loss, Urian glanced back and forth between them, unsure how best to handle this situation, because he didn’t want to be on either of their menus.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, Simi cocked her hip and looked at him. “Wells?”

  “Uh … what baby are you going to eat?”

  Simi froze, then became extremely happy. “Can we?”

  “No!” He rushed to correct that, if that wasn’t where they were going with this weirdness. “You aren’t planning to eat a baby?”

  Simi shook her head. “But if the Simi can, she will. Cans she?”

  “No,” he repeated. “What are you doing?”

  “Now the Simi sad she can’t eat a baby ’cause they’s so tender.” She pouted.

  Xirena sighed. “I know, sissy. So sad.” She shook her head as she folded up the layette. “The nice pirate man and his wife had their baby. So we were sending this for them.”

  “Oh.” Urian had forgotten about that. “Rafael Santiago and Celena.”

  Simi nodded enthusiastically. “Baby Ephani!” She held up the bottles. “Which flavor do you think Baby Ephani would like?”

  Urian bit back his laughter. “Why not both? Let the baby decide?”

  She gasped. “Good idea!” She dropped the bottles into the box, then ran forward to hug him.

  Only she hit him so hard, it was more like a tackle. Urian smiled, especially when her wings fluttered and feathers went flying. That was the strangest part of all about the Charonte. When they were happy, they had feathered wings. When you pissed one off, their wings turned fleshy and leatherlike, complete with spiked tips on the ends of them.

  Simi pulled back to scowl at him. “Why you so sad, akri-Uri?”

  “I’m okay, Simi.”

  She put her hand over his head. “No, you’re not. You gots a lot of heart-hurt.” Her lips quivered. “Simi sorry. It’s not fun being one-of-a-kind. Believe me, the Simi knows.”

  That she did. The reason she spoke the way that she did was that Apollymi had sent her to live with Ash when she was a toddler. With no other Charonte in the human world, she’d grown up with no one to teach her anything about them. It was only after her sister and brother had managed to escape, thousands of years later, that she’d finally had another Charonte with her.

  “I’m not as cute and precious as you are, Simikee.”

  She smiled so wide, her fangs showed. “You gots the blue eyes. They’s very beautiful, just like you are.” Taking his hand, she turned back toward her sister. “We should make akri-Uri an honorary Charonte, what do you think, Xixi?”

  Screwing her face up, Xirena narrowed her gaze as she stared at him. “He could look cute with horns.”

  Urian’s eyes widened at the thought of them putting horns on his head. The image of them drilling them into his skull was horrifying. Charonte were known to do things like that.

  Luckily, Xirena got up with a pair of stuffed red ones that attached with clips. Making herself taller, she handed one to Simi and each one clipped a horn to his head.

  They stepped back to stare at him, then high-fived each other. “Charonte!” they said in unison.

  Simi gave a firm nod. “You’s a perfect, beautiful Charonte now!” She grinned. “Can you look in a mirror or are you still too Daimon for that?”

  He laughed. “I can look in mirrors now.” That was one of the things Ash had fixed about him that still freaked him out whenever he happened to see his reflection.

  “Goody!” Simi used her powers to conjure a crystal-encrusted, Hello Kitty hand mirror that she held up for him so that he could see the horns.

  Urian grinned at the silliness of it. “Perfect.”

  “Charonte!” She held her hand up for him to high-five her.

  “Charonte!” he said, and gently touched her palm with his.

  Alexion picked that moment to come in and burst into laughter. “Should I even ask?”

  Urian glared at him. “Not if you want to live.”

  Simi snorted. “Akri-Uri is a Charonte now. We’s adoptive him. He our baby now so if you make our baby cry, we make you cry.”

  Urian’s grin turned to straight shit-eating. “I like that a lot.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he dared Alexion. “I’ve got Charonte mamas now. Go ahead, insult me.”

  Alexion sputtered as he looked back and forth between the two demons, who were now very alert. “The only Danger I flirt with is my wife. Who I’m going to find right now. But word to the wise about your adoption, Uri … they feed their babies habanero sauce straight up from the bottle, and good luck with the burping.” Then he vanished.

  “Hey! That a joke?” he shouted after him.

  No answer.

  A bad, sick feeling went through Urian. He turned toward the demons. Both of whom were now on their feet and coming closer with purpose.

  Oh shit …

  October 2010

  “We have a problem.”

  “You’d have had a bigger one had you arrived a minute earlier before I pulled my pants on,” Acheron said drily as Urian materialized directly in front of him as he stood in the kitchen of the New Orleans home he shared with Tory. He’d been scooping ice cream when Urian made an unannounced appearance. “Were you raised in a barn?”

  A loud knock sounded on the back door.

  Acheron rolled his eyes at Urian’s sarcasm when it was obvious Urian had thrown the sound as a “screw you” to him. The expression on Ash’s face said, Lucky for you, I just had great sex with my wife that put me in such a happy place that not even your assholishness can disturb it. Otherwise Urian was sure he would have been a flaming stain on the wall. “What’s up?”

  “Dev’s not on crack.” Dev Peltier being the Were-bear from Sanctuary who normally stood guard at their front door, which let out onto the street. Apparently, the bear had claimed that he saw Daimons out in daylight, walking around with tourists. Since everyone knew Daimons couldn’t do that … the natural assumption was that the bear was on crack.

  Acheron licked the back of the spoon before he set it in the sink. “Never thought he was.… Ketamine maybe, but never crack. Why, did you?”

  Urian watched Ash return the ice cream carton to the freezer. “I just came away from a chat with one of my old friends.” Which really just meant Davyn as he had no other friends on the Dark Side. “He told me that the Daimons are able to take gallu demon souls into their bodies and that Stryker is converting his army with their blood.”

  Just as Urian had done when Davyn told him what his father was up to, Acheron froze at those words. The Sumerian gallu powers were intense. The ultimate in evil, one of them in a Daimon’s body was a nightmare of biblical proportions.

  More than that, gallu bites turned their victims into mindless drones. Like a zombie on steroids. One could make thousands.

  A Daimon would now be able to make more of their kind. Lots more.

  While the great Acheron could take one down without breaking a sweat, a normal Dark-Hunter …

  Good luck with that.

  “What’s Stryker planning?”

  Urian gave him a droll stare. “What he’s always wanted. To kill my grandfather and subjugate the humans while staying beyond Helios’s reach.”

  Ash returned his “duh” expression. “I didn’t ask for the goal, Urian. I’ve known that. What I need is the game plan. Why is he converting his people?” Ash’s phone rang. He started to ignore it until he saw the ID.

  Sighing, Acheron looked at the bowl of melting ice cream on the counter. He refroze it, then flashed it away.

  With an aggravated expression, he flipped open his phone.

  “Nick is working with the Daimons.” Urian couldn’t identify the voice on the other end, but he heard those words plainly.

  “Nice hearing from you too, Spartan. Care to tell me why you think this?”

  “’Cause the little shit tried to kidnap Sam out of Sanctuary. He was there in all his glory, offering her up to our enemies.”

  Urian tried to make sense of that. Nick was the current Malachai after the death of his father, Adarian. And after they’d rescued Tory and Nick had killed Satara, they’d discovered that Stryker had somehow tied Nick’s life force to his own.

  Ash hung up the phone and met Urian’s curious gaze.

  “Get over to the Charonte club and ride herd on Dev and Sam. Anything comes at her, I don’t care who or what, you protect her.”

  Great. Protect another Dark-Hunter. Just what he wanted to be assigned. Especially Samia, who’d once been an Amazon who had taken out a large number of his people and who was related to the gods who’d cursed and abandoned them. “Okay. What’s going on?”

  “Just do it.”

  That tone always flew over Urian and made him want to punch Acheron when he used it. It also made him want to feed Sam to the Daimons.

  But the gallu were a whole other matter. They were as big a threat to the Daimons as they were to mankind.

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