The Dark-Hunters (765 page)

Tory screamed as the baby rolled inside her. It was as if he was angry at all of them and taking it out on her.

The midwives looked hopelessly at each other. “What do we do?”

Tory’s vision dimmed. She was shaking uncontrollably.

“Do something!” Acheron shouted.

Essie swallowed. “We don’t know what to do.”

They couldn’t take her to a hospital because of the fact that the baby wasn’t human. If he was like his father and had mottled blue skin and horns, it was going to be a little difficult to explain.

Apollymi gestured to Menyara and Acheron. “Use your powers to pull it out.”

Ash paled even more. “What if it damages the baby?”

“Oh, for goodness sakes, child. The baby will never be left alone and unprotected.” She gestured to the crowded room. “There’s not a being here who wouldn’t lay their life down for him. He is not you, Apostolos. We don’t have to hide him.”

Pam looked up from the monitors. “Tory’s blood pressure’s too high. We have to calm her down or she’s going to have a stroke.”

“Calm her down? How?”

Tory screamed as the baby moved again. It felt like he was trying to rip her in half.

Kim blanched. “We’re going to lose them both.”

Ash couldn’t breathe as he heard those words.

In all of his extremely long life, he’d never been more terrified. He couldn’t lose his wife. He couldn’t.

Hoping he didn’t do it wrong, he reached with his powers to pull the baby out.

Lightning burst in the room, ricocheting all over it. He had to duck to keep from getting blasted.

Tory screamed even louder.

And the baby stayed inside her.

“Oh, that’s not good,” Menyara whispered. She moved him aside. “Let me try.”

This time, the lightning slammed her into the wall.

Ash looked at his mother, who shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Pam turned the monitors toward them. “She can’t take much more.”

Ash met Tory’s gaze. The utter agony and terror there stabbed him. What were they going to do?

“Her heart’s failing.”

Tears welled in his eyes. If she died because of this, because of him, he’d never forgive himself.

“Call Mom.”

Ash frowned at Kat. “What?”

“She’s a goddess of childbirth. She was only a few hours old when she delivered Apollo from her own mother. If anyone knows what to do…”

Yes, but she was also his worst enemy. They hated each other. Why would she help?

And then another fear stabbed him. What if Artemis was doing this? She’d been known to kill women in the throes of labor. Could she hate him so much that she would kill Tory just to get back at him?

Of course she would

Tory screamed again.

Wincing, Ash teleported himself from his home to Artemis’s temple on Mount Olympus. He would rather be flayed, which he’d been many times, than come here. Only fear for Tory’s life would have him in this hated place.

Her receiving hall was completely empty. “Artemis!” he called, heading toward her bedroom. If she did have something to do with this, he would turn Simi loose on her. Fate and order be damned.

Artemis appeared in front of the doors.

Ash hesitated. There was something different about her. She still had the flawless beauty that had always been hers. The long curly red hair and eyes so green they betrayed her divine status, but there was a serenity to her that had never been there before.

“Are you all right?” She actually managed to look concerned.

“Tory…” He choked at saying her name as unimaginable fear and pain ripped him apart. “She’s in trouble. The baby won’t come and she can’t survive it. I need your help.”

Her eyes darkened. “You would dare come here about that after all you’ve put me through?”

Oh yeah, there was the old Artemis he knew and hated. No mention of the fact that she’d stood and watched while her brother disemboweled him at her feet. Or of all the times he’d been beaten and humiliated while she watched on.

But none of that mattered to him.

Only Tory did.

Swallowing his pride, he kept the hatred from his gaze. “Please. Whatever price you demand of me, I will pay it. Anything, Artie. Just don’t let her die.”

“She, a pathetic human, really means that much to you?”

“I would die for her.”

Artemis pressed her lips together as tears glistened in her eyes. “You loved me like that once.”

And he’d paid for that love in the most violent ways imaginable. “Please, Artemis. If you ever loved me, don’t make Tory pay. I’m the one who wronged you. Not her.”

A single tear slid down her cheek. “Would you have ever begged for my life?”

“When I was human. Yes.”

She reached out and laid her hand on his cheek. “I did love you, Acheron. As I have never loved anything else, other than the child you gave me. And you’re right to hate me. Because I’d never loved anything, I didn’t know how to take care of it. I didn’t know how to take care of you.” She pulled his head down to hers and whispered softly in his ear. “I’m sorry.” She placed her lips to his cheek and kissed it.

Then she vanished.

Ash scanned the room, trying to locate her. “Artemis?” Where had she gone? He shoved open the doors to her bedroom. “Artie?”

Still no answer.

Had her apology meant that she was sorry she wouldn’t help? Terror tore through him.

What have I done?

Ash raked his hands through his hair as he fought down his panic and rage. Fine, if Artemis wanted to be a bitch, he’d find some other way to save his wife.

Closing his eyes, he went home.

And froze in the corner as he saw the most shocking thing of all time.

Artemis with Tory.

“That’s it, Soteria. Breathe easy.” Artemis had one hand on Tory’s forehead while she gently rubbed the other over Tory’s stomach. “See how calm he is now?”

Tory nodded.

“He feels what you feel. He’s trying to protect you both.” Artemis looked at the others. “All of you need to leave.”

Kat stood up slowly. “Mom…”

“Leave, Katra. The baby wants peace.”

“We’ll be downstairs,” Menyara said.

Ash hesitated. “Am I to leave, too?”

Artemis shook her head. “If you go, you’ll always think I’ve done something to the child to get back at you. Stay and know that I’m not hurting him.”

One by one, she pulled all the monitoring devices from Tory. Then she cupped Tory’s face in her hand.

“Breathe slow and easy, then push. Not hard, but gently. Let him know that it’s safe and that you want him here to be loved.”

Licking her lips, Tory nodded and did what she ordered.

“Again.”

After the fourth time, Artemis went to her feet. Then turned toward Ash. “Come, Acheron. Be the first to welcome your son into his new life.”

She was right, he was still suspicious of her. All their centuries together, the only thing he’d ever been able to count on was her willingness to hurt him any way she could.

But he did as she said. He went to Tory and, with one more push, his son slid into his hands.

For a full minute, he couldn’t breathe as he stared at the tiniest, most perfect creature he’d ever seen in his life.

“Is it a smurf?” Tory asked.

Ash laughed. Since he was blue in his natural god skin, Tory had been joking with him that she wasn’t having a baby, but rather a smurf. Artemis cut and sealed the cord, then took the baby and woke him.

He let loose a wail that would have shamed Simi.

Artemis wrapped him in a blanket, then took him to Tory. “Meet your son, Soteria.”

Tory stared in wonder at the tiny baby who, even now, looked just like her husband. He was perfect in every way. From the top of his head that was covered with blond fuzz to the bottom of his itsy-bitsy toes.

Artemis started to move away.

Tory took her hand to stop her. Her emotions swelled inside, choking her. “Thank you, Artemis. Thank you.”

Artemis smiled at her. “I hope he brings you as much happiness and pride as Katra has always brought me.”

Ash came closer. “Thank you, Artie.”

She inclined her head to him, then moved to leave.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

She paused at Ash’s question. “What?”

“Your payment.”

Artemis shook her head. “The happiness on your face when first you touched him was enough. I only wish you’d been there when your daughter was born, but that was my fault. I’ve had a lifetime of joy, hugs, and love from her and you missed all of that because of my stupidity and fear. His life is my gift to both of you. Let’s hope the future is much kinder to all of us than the past has been.” And then she was gone.

Tory stared in confounded disbelief. “What did you do to her?”

Ash shook his head. “I don’t think it was my influence.”

“Then who? ’Cause that’s not the Artemis who came at me over you.”

Ash shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s been hanging out with Nick.”

“Nick? As in I-hate-your-guts-Ash-go-die Nick?”

He nodded.

“Whoa.” Tory looked down at her son while he kicked and squirmed. There was no way to describe what she felt in that moment. This was her baby. A part of her and Ash. The best part of them.

Ash held his hand so that the baby could wrap his tiny hand around his pinky. “So what are we going to call him?”

“Bob.”

Ash laughed at the name Zarek used for his son because he detested the name Astrid had picked out. “Really?”

Her smile set his entire world on fire. “No. I think I’d like to name him Sebastos Eudorus.”

Ash arched a brow at her choice. “Why that?”

“Sebastos was the name my parents picked out for me had I been a boy and I always thought it would make a great name for my son. And Eudorus because he was the son of Hermes and Polymele. As a boy, he danced in Artemis’s chair to celebrate her. When he grew up, he was one of the fiercest, most venerated of Achilles’ Myrmidons, and Homer wrote more lines about him than anyone else. Plus it means gift of joy, which he is. And while we’ve had our issues with Artemis, but for her, I wouldn’t have you and neither of us would have had the baby today.”

Only his wife would know all of that off the top of her head. Ash laughed. “Sebastos Eudorus Parthenopaeus. He is really going to hate us when he has to learn to spell all that.”

“Probably, but I think I’ll call him Sebastian. That way he can grow up and confuse people with his name just like his father does.”

“Yeah, well, I still haven’t figured out how you got Tory out of Soteria.” He leaned down and kissed her gently. “Thank you for my son.”

Her eyes glistened and the love he saw there never ceased to amaze him. “Thank you for my life.”

He could stare into her beautiful face all day.

She patted him lightly on the cheek. “You should probably let the thundering horde in from downstairs. Let them know Artemis didn’t kill us.”

“All right. You sure you’re ready?”

“Absolutely. And before you start posting photos on Facebook for the rest of the Dark-Hunters to see, make sure I have on makeup.”

He scoffed. “You don’t need makeup to be beautiful.”

“And that’s part of why I love you so much. But the rest of the world doesn’t look at me through silver swirling eyes.”

“I love you, Tory. I know I say it a lot, but…”

“I know, baby. I feel the same way about you. Those words never convey what goes through my mind and heart every time I look up and see you sitting in my house. Funny thing is, I always thought my house was full and that there was nothing missing in my life. I had a job I loved. Family who loved me. Good friends to keep me sane. Everything a human could want. And then I met an infuriating, impossible man who added the one thing I didn’t know wasn’t there.”

“Dirty socks on the floor?”

She laughed. “No, the other part of my heart. The last face I see before I go to sleep and the first one I see when I get up. I’m so glad it was you.”

Those words both thrilled and scared him. Mostly because he knew firsthand that if love went untended it turned into profound hatred. “And I hope you never change your mind about that.”

“Never.”

Foolish or not, he believed her. But one thing he knew for certain. He would never be able to live without her.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

As a woman of mixed Tsalagi (Cherokee) heritage, I’ve always been fascinated by the beliefs and legends of all the Native American Nations. I spent untold hours as a child combing through the library, reading any and everything I could find that would give me insight into that part of my family history, as well as listening to countless stories told to me by my family, all of whom wove great magic with their words.

When I first started writing the Dark-Hunter series back in college, I decided to base it around Greek mythology with one notable exception. The Daimons. A cursed vampire-like demon that wasn’t immortal, and rather than feed from blood, they fed from something a little more … robust.

The human soul.

While I created the curse and the mythos around the Atlanteans, Apollites, and Daimons from my own mind, there was one thing I did borrow from my ancestors. Part of the tsi-noo (chenoo) legend.

When I was a child, the tsi-noo was the bogeyman my mother would threaten me with if I didn’t behave (she also used the Manitou, but that’s another story).

A Wabanaki legend, the tsi-noo began life as a human who was either possessed by an evil demon or one who committed some atrocious crime (usually cannibalism) that caused his heart to turn to ice. Also known as an Ice Cannibal, the tsi-noo stayed alive and grew stronger by consuming humans, especially their souls. This was why my mother told me it was imperative to say my prayers at night and to ask God to keep my soul safe while I slept. If I failed to do so, one could slip into my bed (or my dreams) and steal it away from me … because everyone knew that a child’s soul was the most coveted by the tsi-noo and if you weren’t careful, you could easily give your soul to one. I’m pretty sure all of that last bit was made up by my mother for the sheer fear factor of it as I haven’t been able to find any corroborating story about it.