Sherrilyn Kenyon: Dream Chaser

Xypher scoffed. "Of course it is. I know the work of Hephaestus."

"So do I and this isn't it." Julian bent Xypher's arm so that he could see the lock. "I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I think this is Atlantian in origin."

Xypher still looked less than convinced. "Are you sure?"

Julian nodded grimly. "Hephaestus is my step-father. I have trinkets from him all over my house . . . and experience with other items of his. Including handcuffs. The lock on this is definitely something else."

Simone wanted to groan in frustration. If Julian couldn't help them, who could? "Do you know what it does?"

"Not really, but if you can come in and get out of view of my neighbors, I can ask."

Xypher's eyes darkened dangerously.

"Don't even try," Julian said. "I've faced down a lot worse than a pissed-off Skotos."

Xypher gave him a menacing stare. "You have to sleep sometime." "So do you."

Simone let out a sound of disgust. "Down, boys, down. Please, I just want to be free before I get testosterone poisoning."

Without another word, Julian led them into his house, toward the living room. Simone smiled at the sight of toys scattered about on the floor of the otherwise immaculately kept home. There were also pictures on the mantel of Julian with a dark-haired woman and kids —two boys and two girls. They appeared to be extremely happy. "I didn't know you had children." she said, warmed by the sight.

He smiled proudly. "They're at a friend’s house with their mom. I was trying to put together a syllabus for a new class while it was quiet and the baby wasn't trying to scribble all over my notes. Her older sister just taught her how to draw tulips and she's been putting them on everything."

Case in point, there were two bright pink tulips about toddler height on the wall behind him.

Simone could just imagine how hard it must be to think up interesting and beneficial class material while shuffling an insistent toddler. Personally, she hated coming up with new syllabi and that was without the addition of a ... then again, she did have Jesse. She could actually relate to Julian's plight. "Sorry we're disturbing you."

"Don't worry about it," he said in a friendly tone. "If this is the worst interruption I have today, I'm doing remarkably well."

Then without another word to them, Julian upped his head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Hey, Mom, you got a minute?"

Simone looked to the stairs, thinking his mother was in the house.

Apparently, she wasn't. A flash of light almost blinded her before an incredibly beautiful blond woman appeared in front of Julian. Thin and grace fill while wearing a winter-white wool suit, his mother looked as stunned at Simone's presence as Simone was at hers.

Not to mention the fact that Julian's mother didn't look a day older than Julian, Holy cripes! There was a real live, breathing goddess in front of her! What would appear next? A dragon? Then again, if it were Brad Pitt, she'd be in busuress.

"What's going on?" Aphrodite asked.

Julian inclined his head behind her to where Xypher stood with his usual menacing glower. "We have a situation."

Aphrodite turned, then curled her lip. "You? What are you doing here? I thought you were dead."

"I am. Thanks. You look good for an old broad, too."

Aphrodite looked at him as if his words left a bad taste in her mouth.

Xypher ignored it as he held the bracelet up to her. "I'm here to get this off, or if not off, to at least find out what it is and what it does."

Simone wouldn't have thought the goddess could look any more repulsed and yet she pulled it off nicely. At least until she laughed.

"I swear by the liver Styx, Xypher, I have never seen anyone make the gods madder than you. Whoever did you irritate for that?"

A muscle worked in Xypher's cheek. "Don't toy with me, Aphrodite. What is it?"

"It's a deamarkonian. A nice little trinket created by the Atlantean gods to kill the invincible. I didn't even know there were any left. Wherever did you find it?"

"I found it attached to my wrist. Now what exactly does it do?"

She made the most graceful shrug Simone had ever seen. "It binds the life forces of two entities together. You and"—she turned to Simone—"your little friend here. If one of you dies, the other dies. The Atlanteans used it as a way to kill a stronger person. You bind them to someone weak and you kill the weak in order to kill the strong. Simple."

Xypher cursed.

"Oh, but it gets even better," Aphrodite said, wrinkling her nose at him. "You have to stay near each other. If you wander too far afield, you'll both die."

Simons went still. "What?"

She nodded.

Xypher cursed again. "How far?"

"I have no idea. Guess we'll know when one of you crosses the boundary and you both die, huh?"

This time Xypher's curse was so foul it actually made Simone blush. "I can't be stuck with you," he growled at her.

Her mouth dropped at his angry words. "Like you're my dream man come to life. Believe me, that sick feeling you have in your stomach is very much shared by me."

He narrowed his eyes on her, but she refused to back down. "Do you know of any way we can get this off?" he asked Aphrodite.

"Don't know."

By his expression, Simone could tell that wasn't the answer Xypher wanted.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" he said.

"What are you? Blind? I'm not Atlantean—that bracelet was designed to bring us down and that means the Atlantean gods who made it weren't real big on sharing its weaknesses with us. If you know someone tied to their dead pantheon, I suggest you try them." She turned toward Julian and her features softened. "I'll see you later, sweetie." She vanished.

"Aphrodite!" Xypher shouted at the ceiling. "Get your skinny ass back here!"

Simone scoffed. "I can't imagine why she wouldn't respond to that." She narrowed her gaze at Xypher. "Where did you go to charm school, anyway? Prison?"

He glared at her as if he could imagine his hands wrapped around her throat. That was okay by her since she currently held the same fantasy about choking him. . . preferably with one of the bracelets they were joined by.

Julian let out a tiled breath as he put his hands on his hips. "I hope you're friends with Acheron. He's the only Atlantean I know of."

Xypher didn't looked overly thrilled by that prospect. "Give me his number."

Simone arched a brow at Xypher. "Can't you just call him out of thin air?"

Julian laughed. "Good luck. He's the only person I know who can be crankier than my mother or Xypher. You don't summon Acheron. You ask nicely."

"I'm so sick of the gods playing with my life," Xypher snarled as Julian handed him a piece of paper with a number scribbled on it.

A glimmer of something flashed in Julian's eyes. "I know the feeling. But sometimes salvation from them can come at the most unlikely time." His gaze went to Simone. "And from the most unlikely people."

Xypher rolled his eyes. "Don't sell me your bullshit. I'm on a countdown here. In twenty-two days I so back to hell. My only goal is to make sure that this time, I don't go alone."

"Then I wish you luck." Julian showed them to the door. "If you need anything else, let me know."

Simone thanked him before she led the way across the porch. She handed Xypher her cell phone as they walked to the car—she was actually surprised he didn't poof them back into it.

Then again, he was distracted. He didn't say a word. He merely took the phone and dialed the number with an irritable expression that was somehow inviting.

"Of course you're not answering ..." he said in a guttural tone. Then in a more normal voice he said, "Acheron, it's Xypher. When you check messages, I need you to call me back at this number. I have a situation and I need you to contact me ASAP." He closed the phone and returned it to her.