Devil May Cry (Dark-Hunter #11)

Devil May Cry (Dark-Hunter #11) Page 15

Sin couldn't breathe as his brother's harsh words rang in his ears. He looked down at Kat on his bed, and while she might be burning with a fever, there was no sign of her changing over into a demon. "What do you mean, she's converting? She wasn't bitten."

Zakar indicated her with his hand. "Trust me. I know the symptoms. She's becoming one of them."

Sin cradled her against his chest. Even though she was unconscious, her eyes were half-open. Her body was completely limp. Her features were as beautiful as ever. Calm. Serene.

She wasn't becoming a demon. He refused to believe it. There was no sign of her teeth changing. Of her hands deforming. She looked as she always did.

His brother was wrong. "She's just sick."

Zakar laughed at him. "An immortal goddess, sick? Have you lost your mind?"

"I get sick," he said defensively. "It's possible she gets sick, too."

"Do you really believe that?"

No, but he wanted to, desperately. He honestly couldn't cope with the thought of her becoming a demon he'd have to kill.

Sin tightened his grip on her, afraid Zakar might be right. "What can I do?"

"Kill her."

"Bullshit!"

There was no mercy in Zakar's eyes as he watched Sin. "You know what I know. There's no cure for this. There's no way back. Once the conversion starts, it's over for the victim. All you can do is put her out of her misery."

Still, he denied it. The thought of killing Kat...

He couldn't bear it. In only a short time, she'd come to mean way too much to him. "You're immune to the demon venom."

"Am I?"

A cold chill went down Sin's spine. "Zakar..."

Zakar laughed. "You were a fool to come for me, Nana." He leapt across the bed at him.

Releasing Kat to fall back on the mattress, Sin caught him, and they slammed into the wall. Zakar looked normal, except for the single set of fangs in his mouth. A tremor of anger went through Sin. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your brother."

"No, you're not." He slugged his fist into Zakar's jaw, knocking him to the floor. This wasn't Zakar, this was something else entirely.

"Kytara!" Sin shouted. "If you can hear me, get your ass here now."

As Zakar stood up slowly and wiped the blood from his lips he tsked at Sin. "How pathetically weak you've grown that you now have to call for backup from a woman."

Sin raked his brother with a sneer. "She's not my backup. She's your babysitter." He blasted Zakar with a god-bolt.

And he didn't let up.

Zakar tried to run, but he couldn't. Every time he tried to stand, the blast would knock him back to the floor. With Zakar squirming in a corner, Sin kept him pinned until Kytara showed herself in the room.

She actually looked excited as she saw him frying his brother. "Good man. Kill the bastard."

But Sin didn't kill him. He couldn't do that to his own brother-he could only beat the shit out of him, and that only when Zakar deserved it.

As soon as Zakar was unconscious, Sin stopped pounding him with the bolts. He knelt by Zakar, who was slumped on the floor, and double-checked his pulse. It was strong and frantic against Sin's fingertips.

Satisfied that his brother would live, Sin laid him down more comfortably on the floor and covered him with a blanket. Sin looked up at Kytara, who was standing next to his bed. "What do you know about gallu conversions?"

She shrugged. "Not much really. I'm the other pantheon, remember? Why?"

"Because I think Kat was bitten by them." He went back to her on the bed. She was shaking now so badly that her teeth were chattering. And she still didn't wake or respond to him. "I need you to stay here while I get her help."

Kytara's face paled as she realized what was wrong with Kat. "There's no help for this. You know that."

He shook his head. There was no way in hell he was going to let Kat die. Not like this.

Or worse, kill her for it. There had to be something they could do. Anything, and he was willing to move the heavens and earth to save her. "I refuse to believe that." He picked Kat up from the bed and faced Kytara. "Watch Zakar for me. Don't let him out of your sight, and whatever you do, don't kill him."

She made an indignant squawk. "Are you kidding me? I'm not a babysitter."

He gave her the most hostile glare he could muster. "No, I'm not kidding. I don't want my brother dead. You said he's fractured. If that's the case, then we can fix him. But first I have to save Kat."

"It's impossible, Sin, and you know it. You're insane and you're wasting your time."

"We'll see." He paused before he left. "And Kytara, if my brother isn't still breathing when I return, the Oneroi are going to be the least of your concerns."

She gave him an indignant huff.

Ignoring her, Sin closed his eyes and flashed him and Kat to the last place he needed to visit...

Kalosis.

And he naturally manifested right in front of a Charonte who eyeballed him as if he were a prime steak on a plate. But Sin wasn't in the mood to deal with it. He ignored the beast.

"Apollymi!" Sin shouted as he walked down the long, narrow hallway with no idea where to go to find her. "I need you."

She appeared in front of him with her hands on her hips and her face flaming angry.

Until she saw Kat in his arms.

Apollymi's countenance instantly changed to one of concern as she rushed forward to place her hand on Kat's brow. "What happened?"

For some reason, that one single question coming from Kat's grandmother hit a raw nerve in him and all the repressed emotions he'd been holding back came rushing forward. His throat tightened as fear for Kat overwhelmed him.

But there was more to it than that. The thought of her dead...

Sin hadn't hurt like this in so long that it was all he could do to draw a breath. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't.

Swallowing against the lump in his throat, he spoke in a hushed tone. "I think she was bitten by a gallu demon and she's becoming one of them. I need you to heal her... please."

Tears filled Apollymi's eyes as she met his gaze, and he saw a hopelessness there that tore through him like fire. "I can't heal something like this."

Anger singed him. "I saw you mend her when she was hurt. You can heal this. I know it."

She shook her head. "I can heal wounds, but this... this is in her blood. It's spreading through her. I can't fix this. It's beyond me."

He felt as if someone had just sucker punched him. He shifted Kat in his arms so that he could press his lips against her feverish temple. Every laugh she'd ever given him... every touch burned through him now.

The thought of never hearing another sarcasm-laden quip...

It couldn't be over. He couldn't lose her over something so stupid as a bite they'd failed to cauterize. If not for helping him, she wouldn't even be in this.

No, there had to be something else he could do.

He glared at Apollymi as he felt his own tears pricking his eyes. "I won't let her die like this, Apollymi. Do you hear me? There has to be something. Anything. Don't tell me that out of two pantheons we don't have a solution."

She brushed a loving hand through Kat's pale hair. "Maybe her father can do something. He understands demons a lot better than I do."

A chill went over Sin at her words-the last known address for Ash was Artemis's bed. "What?"

Apollymi locked gazes with him. "You have to take her to Olympus. Apostolos is the only one I know who might have a solution or cure for this."

Personally, he'd rather have both eyes gouged out than ever step foot on Olympus again. The last time he'd ventured there, it'd cost him everything he had, including his dignity.

But one glance at Kat's beautiful face and the obvious pain she was in and he knew he was willing to walk through the fires of hell to make her better.

"Where is he on Olympus?"

"Artemis's temple."

Of course he was. Where else would Acheron be when Sin needed him?

How unfair was this? But his past didn't matter right now. Only Kat did.

"All right," he breathed, "but I can't go there on my own. Artemis stripped that power from me to keep me from killing her."

"Oh, we can only hope." Apollymi touched him on the shoulder. "Do me proud," she whispered. Then, louder, she called out to her son, "Apostolos?"

Ash's answer was almost instantaneous. "Yes, Matera?"

"I have Sin here with Katra. She's ill and she needs you, but I can't send them there without your help."

Sin barely had time to blink before he found himself on the balcony of Artemis's temple.

The large doors to his left opened to show Acheron in a pair of black leather pants and a long, heavy silk Atlantean robelike formesta that billowed out around his boots as he walked. "What's wrong?"

Sin met him halfway across the balcony. "A gallu bit her."

Ash's face paled. "Where?"

"I don't know and I'm really not sure. We went to a cavern to free my brother and several of them showed up and attacked us. It's the only time I think it could have happened, but she didn't tell me she'd been bitten." He looked down at her, wondering why she'd kept that secret from him. "She was fine until a short time ago. She told me she had a headache and then she started burning a fever. I thought she was sick until Zakar told me she was converting. "

Acheron took her from his arms and carried her inside to a white chaise where he laid her down. Sin's heart sank at how pale she appeared. Her eyes were rolled completely back in her head, but at least her teeth were no longer chattering.

Then again, he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"Katra?" Ash asked, kneeling down by her side. When she didn't respond, he laid his hand on her cheek.

She screamed the instant Ash touched her face, then tried to bite him.

Ash jumped back, out of her reach.

Sin cursed at the sight of her double set of fangs. She really was converting... Agony welled up inside of him at the thought of losing her. He was nauseated and wanted to kill Kessar for this.

"It's too late, isn't it?"

Ash looked up at the pain he heard in Sin's voice. And in that one moment, he had a realization about their relationship that made his insides shrink. Why else would Sin have come here and not be after Artemis to kill her?

He could have just left Katra with Apollymi and returned home. Instead, he'd come here with her and now watched over her with fear in his eyes and agony in his voice.

There was only one conclusion to be drawn.

Sin was Katra's lover.

Ash wanted to curse in anger, but it was too late for that. They'd already been together. He could feel it. Besides, he barely knew his daughter-who was he to parent her now and tell her that she shouldn't have slept with Sin? She was a grown woman.

One who was in deep trouble.

And unfortunately, Ash couldn't get her out of this alone. To cure her, he needed help. Standing up, he pinned Sin with a gimlet stare. Ash had to know the truth of what existed between them.

Katra's life depended on it.

"What does Katra mean to you?"

A wall came up inside Sin over that question. Ash could almost hear it closing, but he couldn't tell if it was motivated by suspicion, fear, or guilt.

"Why do you ask me that?"

Ash ground his teeth as he glanced back to his daughter, who was thrashing about on the chaise. There was only one way to save her, and it broke his heart. It was the last thing he wanted to do to anyone. But it was the only way to get the demon out of her.

"I have to bond her to someone."

Sin was confused by Ash's strange behavior and his words. Ash was reticent about helping his daughter, and Sin couldn't understand that. He would have brought down the heavens to protect his own. Why was Ash so upset now?

"Okay. What's the problem with that?"

Ash seared him with that swirling silver gaze that seemed to be able to see straight to his soul. When Ash spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. "Listen to me, Sin. I'm going to have to summon the demon out of her... by draining her blood. If I know the demon within, it won't let go of her until I've taken so much blood that she's going to die from it. The only way to save her will be to bond her to someone else by using their blood. When I do this, she will need that person for the rest of her life to feed from. She'll be a vampire."

Sin hesitated. He wanted to make sure he understood exactly what Ash was saying. "But not a gallu."

"No. She'll be just as she was... unless she goes too long without feeding. Then she'll turn cold and will feed from anyone who's capable of sustaining her."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Still Ash was hesitant. It was obvious he didn't like the thought of bonding them together, and Sin couldn't understand why until Ash continued. "Blood bonds like this are very sexual. She's my daughter. For an obvious reason, I don't want to bond her to me... That leaves"-he hesitated-"you."

Could he have growled that last word and spoken it with any more distaste?

But Sin could understand what had put a burr up Ash's saddle. As a father he'd have felt the same way. "You're offering your daughter to me?"

A muscle worked in Ash's jaw as he averted his gaze from Sin. "I condemned my best friend to death for taking the innocence of the only daughter I've ever known." His eyes misting, he looked at Katra, and the love he had for his daughter actually choked Sin up and it gave him a new respect for Ash.

Ash cleared his throat before he spoke again. "I try to always learn from my mistakes. I don't like what you've done, but I'm not going to see either of you die for it. I've let my emotions do enough damage to people I care about. But before I intrust her life to you, I have to know how much she means to you."

Sin held his arms out like a supplicant as he admitted something to Ash he didn't even want to admit to himself. But it was the truth. "I'm standing before you in the temple of my worst enemy and I'm not trying to kill Artemis. What do you think Katra means to me?"

Ash inclined his head to Sin. "This isn't a typical blood bond I'm doing. Once this is done, there will be no way to undo it. You understand?"

Yes, he did. "Whatever it takes, Acheron, save her."

Ash actually looked relieved, but it passed by his face so quickly that Sin wasn't sure if he saw it or imagined it. "Hold her legs."

Sin went to her feet and held her ankles while Ash took her hands into his. Then, in the blink of an eye, Ash changed forms. No longer human, he had mottled blue skin and black lips and horns. His eyes were a monstrous red that swirled with yellow. And while Sin watched, Ash's incisors grew to long, razor-sharp fangs.

Gaping, Sin had never seen anything like this. "What are you?"

Ash gave a bitter laugh. "I am death and sorrow." And then he leaned over Kat and bit into her neck.

Kat screamed and tried to fight, but Ash didn't stop. Sin held her feet as tight as he could without hurting her while Ash drew back and spat her blood onto the floor. Only it didn't hit the marble. Instead, it splashed into what appeared to be an invisible jar of some kind. Her blood swirled around before it slid to pool in the bottom.

Sin curled his lip as Ash repeated the gesture again and again like someone siphoning gas from a car. And as Ash continued to spit the blood into the jar, the blood congealed. Before long, it was forming a small, angry demon. It tried to run at Ash, but it couldn't. It seemed to be stuck to the jar's bottom like an insect on flypaper. Even though it was headless, it managed to shout in a language Sin had never heard before as it raised a fist, then slapped against the side of the jar, wanting release.

Ash ignored it.

Sin focused his gaze on the mottled blue skin of Ash's hand as he held Kat's hands in place. Ash's long black hair was draped over both of them while Ash's red eyes glowed.

"Kat doesn't turn blue like you, does she?"

Ash cut Sin a harsh glare with those spooky fire eyes that made his weird-ass silver eyes suddenly attractive by comparison. "I have no idea," he said before he returned to suck more blood from her.

As Ash continued to drain her Sin cringed and hoped it wasn't causing her pain. He couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt because of him.

Once the demon was completely formed in the jar, Ash released Kat and sat back on his haunches. Kat had long since stopped fighting them. Now she lay quietly against the white cushions, serene and unmoving.

Sin held his breath in fear. She was so pale... her skin was no longer healthy looking. It held a grayish cast, and her lips appeared to be turning bluish.

She was dying.

"Acheron?" He hated the note of panic in his voice.

Ash grabbed Sin's arm and pulled it across Kat's body. "She'll most likely attack you. Don't let her take too much blood or she could kill you."

"You sound like you're going somewhere."

"I have to take care of the gallu spirit."

Sin sucked his breath in sharply as Acheron used a long black claw to slash open his wrist. He hissed in pain. Acheron held Sin's arm over Kat's lips to let the blood drip into her mouth. As soon as the first drop touched her teeth, her eyes opened.

Frantically she grabbed Sin's wrist and held it to her mouth so that she could drink. Her breath scorched him as her tongue tickled his skin while she sought to get as much of his blood as she could.

Without looking at them, Acheron picked up the invisible jar with the demon who kept screaming at them, and vanished.

Sin was so relieved by Kat's recovery that all he could do was watch her. He should be disgusted by what she was doing, but his gratitude was such that it didn't faze him at all. If bleeding for her would save her, then he'd gladly open a vein anytime.

At least that was his thought until she released his wrist and pulled him against her. He saw the hunger in her eyes an instant before she sank her teeth into his neck. The pain was only brief before a deeply erotic pleasure tore through him.

And when it did, a million images began filling his mind. He saw all kinds of moments from Kat's past. Her as a child, an adolescent... as a woman.

It took him a minute to realize they were her memories.

Suddenly the images slowed and he could hear actual sound bites while they danced through his mind.

He saw her in her mother's garden, laughing with other handmaidens. Saw her in Greece on a boat with a woman named Geary as they discussed Atlantis. Then the memories changed to a club in Minnesota where Kat was dancing with a blond woman...

It was so strange to be inside Kat like this and it gave him insight into what it must have been like for her when she'd viewed his dreams. Surreal and dizzying, he had a hard time sorting through the memories.

Cradling her head in his hands while she fed, he saw her as a young woman in a girl's white and light blue bedroom, sitting at a white table, reading a small leather-bound scroll.

"Katra!"

She jumped at the sound of Artemis's frantic call. "What now?" she muttered under her breath.

"Katra, please. I need your help."

Kat flashed herself from her room to Artemis's bedroom. She drew up short as she saw...

Sin lying on the bed, half-dressed.

He flinched at the image that hit him through his own memories and through hers, but curiosity kept him from banishing it. He wanted to know what had happened that night.

Artemis was panicked as she pulled Kat into the room, her eyes damp from tears. "You must help me, Katra. He... he broke into my chambers and tried to rape me."

Artemis was covered in blood, her gown torn. And for the first time in centuries, Sin remembered the past that his mind had buried.

He remembered Artemis smiling at him and handing him a goblet. "Yes, it is a shame about Ningal. I saw her earlier tonight sleeping with my brother in his temple. She is a faithless whore, isn't she?"

Sin had refused to answer. His and Ningal's relationship wasn't any of Artemis's business, and it was something that never failed to cut him to the bone. "I don't want to discuss it, Artemis."

Part of him had suspected she'd mentioned it hoping he'd kill his wife in anger and unleash the Chthonians on him.

But Artemis surprised him with her reason. "I have a proposition for you, Sin. You solve my problem and I solve yours."

"And what problem do I have?"

She'd wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Don't be stupid, Sin. Everyone knows your wife cheats with anyone she can drag to her bed... that the children you claim as yours aren't. That your own pantheon looks down on you even though you control the moon, the calendar, and their fertility. I can't imagine how terrible it must feel to be laughed at by everyone, especially given how much power you have."

It was much more complicated than that. As much power as he held, he knew it could be negated in an instant by the Tablet of Destiny. Without power, he'd be an easy kill. Not to mention, he was kept at bay by loyalty to Zakar. If Sin died, they'd soon learn Zakar was still alive and in no time they'd kill him, too.

Artemis had leaned against Sin and breathed in his ear. "Haven't you ever wanted to get back at them?"

More than she could imagine.

However, his hands were tied and he knew it-better he be unhappy than his brother be dead. And as that thought went through Sin, he realized he didn't want to be here tonight... with her.

This all felt wrong and he needed to leave.

Sin had set the goblet aside. "I made a mistake coming here."

Artemis had pulled him to a stop and smiled prettily at him in a way no goddess had done in centuries. "No, love, you didn't. You belong here with me." She'd pulled him toward her room. "Like you, I'm tired of being alone all the time." She'd raised his hand and placed a tender kiss on his knuckles as her eyes seduced him. "Stay with me, Sin, and I will make you the next reigning king of the gods."

"I don't need to be king."

She'd left him to get more wine. "Of course you don't. But think of the others bowing down before you. Imagine them all doing any- and everything they can to please you... wouldn't it be fantastic?" Returning to his side, she held the goblet to his lips. "Drink, my sweet. It's good for you."

Sin had downed it all. But no sooner had he finished it than the room began to swim. Too late, he'd realized that she had drugged him.

He'd tried to walk but stumbled to his knees. "What have you done to me?"

Her face had hardened. "I want your powers, Sin. I need them."

"You lying bitch," Sin had growled, and lunged at her.

She'd slapped him hard. Sin had grabbed her and thrown her to the bed, intending to kill her. But no sooner had he wrapped his hands around her throat than he'd passed out.

Now he saw himself on the bed through Kat's eyes. Artemis's throat was bruised from his attack. Her dress torn, but he hadn't done it.

Artemis gestured toward him. "You have to strip his powers from him, Katra. If you don't..." She started crying. "He'll return and may Zeus have mercy on me then. He'll kill me when he wakes. I know it."

"Matisera, I..."

"You what?" she asked angrily, "Don't tell me you won't protect your own mother from an attacker? Look at him, spread out on my bed, sleeping peacefully as if this was nothing to him. Look at me! If I hadn't blasted him, he'd have violated me and taken my powers and left me as weak as a babe. Who do you think would protect you from the other gods then?" She'd begun sobbing hysterically.

He could feel the pain inside Kat at seeing her mother hurt, at hearing her tears. Artemis never cried, and it broke Kat's heart. She wanted to soothe her mother.

"Please, Matisera, don't cry."

"How can I not? My own child doesn't love me."

"I do love you."

"Then prove it! Give me his powers!"

He could see the indecision in Kat's eyes and feel it inside her as she walked to the bed and touched his arm. The minute she touched him, his wrath and anger had seared her. She'd dropped his arm instantly. "He wants you dead."

"I told you that! If he's still a god when he wakes, I won't be here to protect you anymore."

Kat was terrified. Her mother meant everything to her. The thought of losing her... she couldn't deal with it. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Matisera. I promise." Cringing, Kat had reached for him again and then held her hand out for her mother.

Artemis joined her by the bed and took her hand into hers. Kat covered the center of his chest with her palm, then closed her eyes.

Sin gasped as he felt his powers traveling from his body, through Kat to Artemis. And with every beat of his heart, he grew weaker while Artemis grew stronger...

Anger and betrayal tore through him as he realized the truth. Artemis hadn't taken his powers from him.

Kat had.

She had been the one to cover him in the diktyon so that her mother could dump his body...

He couldn't even go there. Even after all these centuries that pain was too raw. The humiliation too severe. Damn them both for it!

Unable to breathe, he opened his eyes and saw Kat still drinking from him. He cursed before he shoved her away.

Kat was dazed as she looked up at Sin and saw the fury on his face. It didn't matter. The bloodlust was turning into something more.

Her entire body was on fire and she needed him. It was more than she could deny. She had to have him.

Now!

Rising from the chaise, she stalked toward him.

"Don't touch me," he growled, holding her back.

She was baffled by his anger as she wrapped her arms around him, trying to pull him back toward her lips. "I need you, Sin."

He extracted himself from her hold and put two feet between them. "You betrayed me."

She moved even closer to him so that she could bury her face against his neck and inhale the scent of him... and his blood. "Sin," she breathed against his skin as she tongued the area she wanted to bite.

He pushed her away. "You betrayed me. Why didn't you tell me it was you who took my powers?"

She was trying to follow his words, but it was useless. She could smell the blood... taste it, and that desire was all-consuming.

Sin tried to leave, then cursed as he realized he didn't have to powers to leave Olympus. "Release me, Katra. Now." Still she pursued him.

He held her by the shoulders to keep her away from him. He'd trusted her in ways he hadn't trusted anyone in centuries. Around her he'd dropped his guard, and for what? To learn that she'd kept this from him? That she'd duped him and allowed him to blame her mother for something Artemis hadn't done?

God, how many times had Kat told him she couldn't give him his powers back when she could? Damn her to hell!

He felt like such a fool. "I don't want you touching me right now. Do you understand? You ruined my entire life and then you didn't even have the decency to tell me it was you when you knew I was blaming Artemis for it."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" He couldn't believe that was her comeback. "Is that all you have to say? 'Sorry' doesn't even begin to fix what you've broken. Because of you, my entire family is dead except for my twin brother, who has spent centuries at the mercy of demons who've tortured him. And now he's one of them. I put my faith in you... came to the home of my enemy to save your life, and for what? To find out that you're the same lying sack of shit that everyone else is? That the one person I put at my back is the one person who has hurt me most in my life? I hate you for what you've done. You made me believe in someone again, and then, the moment I did, you screwed me over."

Kat let go as those words cut through the haze in her mind. "I never meant to hurt you."

"What? Did you think I was going to wake up powerless and thank you for it? And what about when you came after me in New York to kill me? What about that? It seems to me all you've ever tried to do is hurt me." He raked her with a cold, hard look. "Congratulations, Kat. You hit the mark with this one."

She reached for him, but he moved away.

"Acheron!" he shouted.

Ash appeared instantly in front of him. Sin was thankful that he looked like a man again and was no longer blue.

"Send me back to my penthouse."

Scowling, Ash looked back and forth between them. "She hasn't finished feeding."

Sin glared at him. "And I really don't care."

Ash stiffened. "That's not what you told me."

"Yeah, well, I've learned a few new things about her."

"Such as?"

Sin shot a heated glare toward Kat, who was standing there with tears in her eyes. A few hours ago, that would have mattered to him, too. But right now, he never wanted to see her again as long as he lived and if she were hurting... good. "She stole my godhood from me and gave it to her mother."

Ash snapped his head toward Kat, who was looking down at the floor in front of her. "She what?"

"You heard me, and you have no idea what that kind of betrayal feels like."

Ash laughed bitterly. "Man up, Sin. Trust me, when it comes to betrayal, you're a neophyte, and what she did to you doesn't even register on my scale of pain." He walked slowly toward Kat, who practically cringed at his approach. "You're a conduit?"

She nodded. "I thought he was out to hurt her. I was only trying to protect my mother."

Sin could respect the reasoning, but it didn't change the facts of what she'd taken from him. "I was innocent."

She looked up, her green eyes swimming from her unshed tears. "I know that now. How do you think I feel when I look at you, knowing what I cost you? Do you think any of this has been easy for me?"

"Then give me my powers back."

A single tear sped down her cheek, and in spite of himself it hurt to see her cry. But how many tears had she caused him? No, he would not let his sympathy for her negate his anger in this.

"Don't you think I would return those powers if I could? My mother knows how to block me. The only powers I could possibly give you are mine."

He arched an expectant brow at that.

"No," she said adamantly. "Acheron, tell him I can't do it."

"I'm pretty sure he heard you."

Sin shook his head as his anger continued to build. "I want to go home, Ash. It's the least you can do."

Ash was torn between loyalty to a friend and to the daughter he didn't really know. But in the end, he knew the best thing to do would be to get Sin away from Katra for a while. They both needed to calm down.

But first, Ash wanted to remind Sin what he was about to walk away from. "You told me you were willing to do anything to save her. That her life was the only thing in the world that mattered to you."

"That was before I knew she was the one who'd betrayed me. That is the one thing I'm incapable of forgiving."

Pride goeth before the fall...

"Send him home," Kat whispered.

Confused by her request, Ash looked at her. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I don't want him here."

Well, that settled it. If she wanted him gone...

Before Ash approached Katra he flashed Sin back to his penthouse. "You're not fully fed."

"I'll live."

"Yeah, but the longer you go without feeding, the more amoral you'll become. In time, you'll be like a gallu... only worse."

She looked up at him with those eyes that were both innocent and all-knowing. "Is that why you tolerate Artemis?"

He nodded. There was no need to hide that fact from Katra when it was so obvious.

But his relationship with her mother wasn't the one that was important right now. "Sin loves you, Katra. You should have seen the look on his face when he brought you here. He was terrified of losing you."

She wiped at the tear on her face. "That really doesn't make me feel any better, since I'm the one who ruined it."

Ash pulled her against him so that he could hold her and soothe some of the pain she felt over this. "You know the incredible thing about hearts is their unbelievable capacity for forgiveness. You'd be amazed what people will overlook when they love someone."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head under his chin. "Do you forgive Nick for sleeping with Simi?"

Ash ignored the razor-sharp pain that one question evoked. He still didn't like it, but he'd put the matter behind him. "I have."

"But he hasn't forgiven you."

No. He wasn't sure if Nick would ever get over the death of his mother. But honestly, Ash would rather Nick blame him than try to live with the guilt of his own part in her death. God help the man if Nick ever took that responsibility on his own shoulders. It would kill him.

"I can't control Nick's feelings."

She swallowed before she spoke again. Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper. "And what about Mom? Have you forgiven her for what she's done to you?"

Ash drew his breath in sharply at that one. That question hit him in an extremely raw spot. "That's a little more complicated, Katra. We're not talking one single mistake to forgive. Every time I think we're past one betrayal, I learn of another she's committed... like hiding you from me."

She pulled back to look up at him. "But you do love her, don't you?"

Ash didn't answer. He couldn't.

"Dad?"

He offered her a smile he didn't feel. "I can't answer a question I don't know the answer to. You can't hate to the extreme I do without having loved someone first. When all that hatred is shoved aside, is there any love left? I honestly don't know."

He brushed the hair back from her face and cupped her cheeks in his hands. He wanted to give her the gift he wished someone had given to her mother. Katra needed to understand the crossroad where she was standing right now.

"But I do know this, Katra, the first betrayal, even as severe as it was, could have been forgiven had your mother just apologized and meant it. Had she come to me and promised that she'd never hurt me again, I would have laid my life down for her. Instead she let her pride get in the way. She was more focused on punishing me for her imagined embarrassment than she was on the future we could have had together."

Kat frowned at him. "What are you saying?"

"I saw Sin, Katra, when he came to me, begging for your life. People don't do that when they don't care. It's not too late yet. He can forgive you this."

"But his past-"

"Is one that hurts and that's why this cut him so deeply. But because of that hurt, he needs you even more."

Kat held her breath as her father told her what she needed to hear. But she wasn't sure she could believe it. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me, baby. Everyone wants someone they can hold and love. Someone who will be there to help pick up the pieces when everything falls apart. Sin is no different from anyone else."

Tears stung her eyes as she realized he spoke from the depth of his own pain. He was trying to help her, to spare her the centuries of agony that he'd known. "I love you, Dad."

He took her hand in his and laid a tender kiss to her cheek. "If you have any care for Sin at all, don't leave him in darkness. It's not fair to show someone the sun and then to banish him from it. Even the devil may cry when he looks around hell and realizes that he's there alone."

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "I hear you, Dad. I just hope Sin will listen."

One corner of his mouth lifted. "If he doesn't, you know where Artemis keeps her nets."

Kat sucked her breath in sharply. "I don't think that would endear me to him."

"No, but it would keep him in place."

Laughing, she let go and stepped back. "I'm going to try this."

"No, baby. Trying is for fools." His gaze bore into hers. "You're going to succeed."

She smiled at his confidence and his wisdom. "Wish me luck."

"Better than that. I wish you happiness."

Love for him warmed her as she nodded and flashed herself from Olympus back to Sin's penthouse.

The minute she popped in, something slammed into her. Kat gasped as she hit the floor. She shifted, trying to move the weight off her.

It was then she realized what the weight was.

Sin, and he was bleeding profusely.