Sherrilyn Kenyon - One Silent Night

Simi pouted. "Then can I eat the chocolate?"

"Absolutely."

Simi squealed before she grabbed the Hershey's chocolate bar Soteria had left on the coffee table near them and ran off to savor it.

Soteria laughed. "Dang. I was going to share that with you later."

Ash put the angel on top of the tree, which given the fact that he was six foot eight in height was an easy reach for him. "It's okay. I despise the taste of chocolate."

Soteria pulled silver tinsel from the bear ornament in her hand. "I would ask for an explanation, but every time I ask why you have an aversion to something the answer always breaks my heart. So I'll just makesure not to get you any for Valentine's Day."

"Thanks."

Closing the distance between them, Ash pulled her into his arms for a quick kiss. His lips had barely touched hers before a bright flash blinded him. He drew a breath in to chastise his steward, Alexion, for the intrusion, but before he could speak something slammed into him and knocked him off his feet.

Soteria turned to face an intruder. Expecting to find the Greek goddess Artemis there, she was stunned to see a tall, extremely well-built man. The brutality on his face was only matched by its beauty. Dressed all in black, he walked past her as if she were nothing more than a piece of harmless furniture toward Acheron.

She summoned her powers to blast him, but when she tried, she found her powers worthless against him. It was as if she were human again. The blast left her and seemed to be absorbed somehow by his body.

The man seized Acheron from the floor and threw him against the far wall as if he were nothing more than a straw dummy.

Dear God, the man was going to kill Ash!

ASH COULDN'T BREATHE AS HE TRIED TO FIGHT and couldn't. It was as if something had wrapped itself around him like a steel band, paralyzing him. Pain ripped through his body with potent talons. No one had been able to kick his ass this badly since he'd been human.

No sooner had that thought gone through his head than he had crystal clarity of who and what was attacking him.

War. The ultimate warrior.

Shit.

"No!" Ash shouted as Soteria started to attack War at the same time Simi manifested into the room by her side to fight. War would tear the two of them apart. "Take Simi and get out. Now!"

As Simi launched herself toward War, Soteria grabbed her. Tory gave him a look to let him know that she didn't want to stand back, but that she trusted him enough to listen.

Alexion appeared with a sword that he tried to stab through the spirit. Instead, it went through War's flesh and tore into Ash's abdomen. Ash hissed as more agony poured through him.

Alexion's face paled. "I'm so sorry, boss."

He should try being the one with the gaping wound. But Ash wouldn't hold that against his steward. The most important thing right now was to save all their lives. "Go! Take Danger, the demons, and Tory, and get the hell out of here."

War seized him by his throat. Ash choked, trying to remove the tight grip. He met Alexion's gaze. Loyalty gleamed bright, but his friend knew what Ash did. He couldn't fight while distracted.

"I'll meet you at Neratiti." Gathering the women, Alexion disappeared.

Ash pounded at War's hand, trying to knock his grip loose. When that failed, Ash shot a blast at the god that didn't faze him in the least.

"What do you want?" Ash gasped.

War cocked his head in an impersonal gesture as he tightened his grip even more. "Your death."

Ash's ears buzzed as the airflow to his lungs was restricted. He tried to breathe, but it was futile. His grip on the spirit weakened as everything slid to black.

STRYKER SMILED AS HE WATCHED ACHERON turn blue and for once it wasn't his natural skin tone. The bastard was one gasp away from death.

At least until the Chthonian Savitar flashed into the room with twenty Charonte demons to attack War and drive him away from Acheron. Stryker's anger ignited as the winged demons attacked en masse. They lifted War up from the floor and slammed him against the wall even as he blasted at them.

Savitar ran to Acheron to revive him.

Damn. Why couldn't the Chthonian bastard stay on the beach where he lived? No, Savitar had to bring a demon army out to defend Acheron.

Not to sound childish, but it just wasn't fair . . .

And it seriously pissed him off.

"Strykerius!" Apollymi's shrill scream ripped through the air, piercing his ear drums and making the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention. An instant later, she was standing in front of him with her white blond hair flying around her beautiful face. Like him and Acheron, her eyes were a pale, swirling silver. And they were filled with fury as she glared at him.

He should probably be scared, but it wasn't worth the energy it would take to rise to the occasion. Besides, he'd had the worst things done to him. Torture, dismemberment, and death would be a welcome relief to his current state of nothingness.

"Is something . . . wrong?" he asked nonchalantly, knowing the tone would only enrage her more.

Apollymi wanted to shriek at his patronizing tone. She wanted to blast the bloodsucking Daimon lord before her into oblivion. If only she could. But for an act of weakness on her part centuries ago, she would free herself of him once and for all. However, he'd been fatally wounded by his father, and to strike back at Apollo she'd shared her blood with Strykerius and fortified him. While that act had saved his life, it had also tied their life forces together.

If he died, she died. It was why her son would never really harm Strykerius no matter how angry the Daimon made him.

It was why she couldn't kill Stryker herself.

Ironic, really, she was a goddess known for lacking compassion and the handful of times she'd actually shown some had come back to bite her harshly.

There was nothing to be done for it now. Her real son was under attack and her adoptive one, Stryker, was most likely to blame for it.

"What have you done?" she demanded.

Stryker leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head as he eyed her cautiously. "Mulling mostly coupled with a shot or two of reminiscing and a drop of regretting a few past decisions. Some might even call it moping, but I'd kill anyone so stupid as to suggest that of me." He was more a plotting kind of Daimon.

Her hair rose even higher around her like ribbons twisting in a strong wind, letting him know she didn't appreciate his sarcasm. "Apostolos is under attack. Did you provoke it?"

He didn't know why it bugged the shit out of him for her to call her son Apostolos when the rest of the world knew him as Acheron, but it did.

And honestly, he hadn't provoked dick. He'd directly caused it. Big difference.

However, he wasn't stupid enough to tell her that. Their life forces might be tied together, but when it came to her real son and his well-being, Apollymi lost all self-restraint and sense of survival.

She'd kill them both to protect Acheron.

"No," Stryker answered honestly. He slid his gaze down to the sfora that was hidden from Apollymi's view. The moment Stryker focused on it, he saw War surrounded by the Charonte demons who were actually doing damage to the spirit. Acheron was on the floor coughing and wheezing. A little worse for the wear, but alive nonetheless. Worthless bastard. Savitar was shouting to the demons, but sound wasn't available to Stryker while Apollymi was here.

Damn them.

Careful to shield his expression, he returned his gaze to Apollymi's. "So what can I do for you, Matera?" he asked, using the Atlantean word for mother.

Apollymi drew a long, slow breath as she tried to detect the truth from him. Strykerius had always been a convincing liar. At one time the two of them had been a united force against Apollo. But those days were gone and now the two of them danced around each other in a complicated battle of one-upmanship.