Devil May Cry (18 page)

Obviously it hadn't all been on the surface. That night must have undone their surgery, too. Dammit, how could he have been so stupid?

“Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?”

She glared at him. “I tried. You wouldn't listen to me or speak to me. ‘I hate you, Artemis. Go die.' That's all I heard from you for two thousand years.”

Ash laughed as bitter grief assailed him. For once, she was right. He'd been the one who ignored her. Dear gods, who would have thought
this
was what she'd been trying to tell him?

Worse, she had held his daughter out to him and he'd cursed her for it. Now he cursed himself for being so damn blind and stupid. How could he not have known? How could he have allowed his anger at her to blind him to something so important?

He could kill himself for his own stupidity. He had denied his own child. Gods only knew what she must think of him and his rejection.

“It's been eleven thousand years, Artemis. You know, you could have mentioned this to me before now.”

Her eyes were filled with tears. “I wanted to hurt you then. I held her out to you and you insulted me and refused what I loved more than anything else in this universe. You have no idea what I went through trying to prevent anyone from knowing I was pregnant. I suffered through her birth alone, with no attendants. No one to help me in any way. I didn't have to have her, you know.”

Artemis was still trying to hurt him with that last remark, but he wasn't willing to let her get away with it. “Then why did you?”

“She was a part of you and she was mine. The only thing in my life that has ever been purely mine. There was no way I wouldn't have had her. By the time you started talking to me again, she was grown. I didn't see the point of losing you over something I couldn't help when I'd already done everything I knew to do to make you love me.”

Ash gave a bitter laugh. “I'm happy for you, Artie. You got to love my daughter and I'm nothing but a stranger to her. Thank you.”

“Don't be so surly. I didn't have her long to myself before she went behind my back to find your mother. She's just like her father—ever out to punish me when all I want to do is hold her.”

He went cold at her words.
You've got to be kidding me.…
“My mother knows about her?”

“Of course the bitch does. I had to give up my protection of my daughter to your mother to save you that night in New Orleans when Stryker was about to kill you.”

Ash seethed in anger even though he didn't know why. He'd been screwed over by his mother and Artemis more times than he could count. There had never been a woman in his life who hadn't lied and betrayed him.

Not a one.

Simi had been the only pure thing he'd ever known. And even she had gone behind his back to seduce his best friend. She'd lost her innocence and he'd gained an enemy who now had no intention of stopping until Ash was dead.

Or until Ash killed him.

Yeah, women were the very bane of Ash's entire existence. He wished he'd been born gay so that he would have spared himself centuries of pain at their hands.

But there was nothing he could do to change the past. Letting out a long, angry breath, he glared at Artemis. “And where is my daughter now?”

“That's why I'm here. I sent her to kill Sin.”

“You what!”

Artemis squeaked and put more distance between them. “Don't worry. She's too much like you and wouldn't do it. So I had to call out Deimos to do it.”

Oh, this was going to be good. “Let me guess. Deimos is on the loose now after both of them?”

She nodded. “I told him not to hurt Katra, but he doesn't listen. And somehow he knows she's my daughter.”

Now it all made sense. “You want me to stop Deimos.”

“I want you to kill him.”

He laughed in disbelief.

“Don't shake your head at me,” she snapped. “I know you can do it. You're a god-killer. His powers are nothing compared to yours.”

He cut a lethal glare at her. “Oh, you have no idea, Artie. Not really. In fact, you're lucky I don't cut you down right now where you stand.”

“You can't. You swore you wouldn't.”

“Yeah, but I'm thinking right now your death might be worth mine.”

“You wouldn't dare.”

He growled, knowing she was right. If he died, it would unleash his mother on the world and mankind would go up in a fiery blaze. Damn him for caring about that.

He released a slow breath before he asked Queen Dense the obvious. “So how can I protect my daughter if you won't let me out of here?”

“If Katra needs you, you can go to her. But she has to be in danger first.”

Ash paused at hearing his daughter's name for the first time. “Katra?” In Greek, it meant “pure.”

Artemis nodded. “She looks just like you.” Holding her hand up, she summoned an image of Katra's face so that he could see her.

Tears gathered in his eyes as he saw the beauty of his daughter, but he refused to let them fall. And as he looked at her image, he was stunned to realize that he did know her. It was the face he'd seen in his dreams. The blond woman he couldn't identify. Somehow his mind must have known she was out there and it'd been struggling to tell him.

“Have I ever seen her?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“Just once that I know. She was rushing out with the other
koris
when you showed up unexpectedly. You glanced at her before I made you look at me.”

He remembered that. He'd been struck by the fact that one of the
koris
was obviously taller than Artemis when he knew that Artemis couldn't stand having a woman taller than her around her. “The tall blonde…”

“Yes.”

Ash swallowed the pain that swelled inside of him. To think he'd been that close to her … it cut him deep. “Does she know about me?”

“I never kept the identity of her father from her. It was why she went to visit your mother.”

A sick feeling settled deep in his stomach. “What did you tell her, Artie? That I rejected her?”

Her eyes snapped fire at him. “You know, Acheron, I get tired of you hurting me, too. Really tired. Had you been decent to me, you would have known all about her. So don't you dare take that hostile tone with me. I did the right thing. You were the one who walked out on her. I was there for her, raising her, while you were off pouting.”

Pouting. Yeah. That was so him. He'd been learning to use his powers and had been trying to control a very young Simi who had never been in the human world before. Those early years after Artemis had brought him back had been hard and frightening.

And he'd had no one to turn to. His mother had been bitter and irrational every time he tried to speak to her. Artemis had nagged without cessation. If Savitar hadn't appeared to him to show him how to channel and use his powers, he'd have been completely lost.

But that was the past and he couldn't change it. All he could do was make sure that no one hurt his daughter from this point forward. “Simi!”

He'd barely finished the call before Simi appeared before him.
“Akri!”
She beamed in delight. “Can you come home now?”

He cast a malevolent stare at Artemis. “Not right now. But I have an assignment for you.”

She looked a bit confused. “You do?”

“Yeah. I apparently have someone I need you to watch over. I want you to make sure nothing at all happens to her. Do you understand?”

Simi paled. “You don't want the Simi to watch over the bitch-goddess, do you? 'Cause no offense,
akri,
that would just be wrong, and I love you, but that's more love than the Simi has for anything. Even Diamonique.”

He smiled at her honesty. “Not Artemis, Sim. I need you to watch over a woman named Katra.”

She scowled at his request. “
Akra
-Kat?”

A bad feeling went through him. “You know her?”

She became antsy, which was never a good thing.

Artemis made a sound of disgust. “He knows she's his daughter, twit.”

Simi turned on her with an arch look. “Twit?
Moi?
The Simi? Why, I do believe the bitch-goddess has done gone and gotten herself confused. She thinks she's me, not that I blame her. All women want to be me because of my beautoneousness and the fact that I have such stylish clothing and sparklies. But believe me, I ain't no heifer-goddess.”

“Oh, please, you stupid demon. Like I would ever want to be you.”

Simi's eyes flashed dark so fast that Ash barely had time to grab her and hold her back from eating the bitch-goddess. “No, Sim. Leave her alone.” Then he looked at Artemis. “Insult her again and she's the least of your concerns.”

Artemis scoffed. “You can't hurt me.”

“You're right.
I
can't. But you never said I couldn't give you over to my girl here.”

Simi laughed happily. “Oooo, I finally get to eat the bitch-goddess? Oh, goodie!”

Artemis vanished instantly.

Ash would have taken satisfaction in that if he wasn't so upset. He released Simi and turned her to face him. “You knew about my daughter?”

She lowered her chin like a child afraid of a spanking—something he'd never done to her. “Is
akri
angry at his Simi?”

He pulled her to him and held her against his chest. “How could I be angry at you?” She was the only thing in his life that had ever loved him without conditions or embarrassment. But it still didn't stop him from being hurt that she'd kept this secret. “I just wish you'd told me.”

“But the queen goddess said it would make you cry to know. She said it would hurt you so much—like she hurts 'cause she can't have you with her. I didn't want you to sit and cry like
akra
does.”

He tightened his hold on her. “I know, Sim. It's okay.”

She pulled back to look up at him. “Are you sad,
akri?
”

“A little.”

She took his hand into hers. “The Simi didn't mean to hurt you,
akri.
”

“Oh, baby, you didn't hurt me. I'll be all right.”

“Okay,” she said gently, “'cause if you're not all right, I'll eat the heifer-goddess for you and make it all better.”

He smiled at her. “You can't do that.”

She pouted. “Just a little nip? Maybe her heel or a finger. She'd never miss it … unless she went to pick something up and then, well, who cares. Well, maybe you, but no one else would.”

“No, Sim. Your little nips are the size of a shark bite. I need you to find Katra for me and guard her.”

“Oh, the Simi knows right where she is. I just left her.”

His jaw went slack. Though to be honest, at this point he didn't know why anything shocked him. “You what?”

“She with that ex-god who hates the heifer-goddess like I do. They asked for me and Xirena to help them fight those gallu demons you used to let me eat. Apparently, there's a bunch of them out now.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a bottle of barbecue sauce. “I'm all prepared.”

Ash shook his head, trying to understand. “The gallu are loose now?”

She nodded. “Sin said they're coming out by the dozen—just enough to make a good appetizer for us.”

Yeah, and enough to do serious damage to the human race. “Go, Simi. Watch over Katra for me.”

“Okay,
akri.
But don't be sad.” She blew him a kiss before she vanished.

He let out a tired breath as he surveyed the empty room. Everything on earth was falling apart and he was trapped here because of Artemis's insatiable libido. Where was the justice in that?

“What the hell's going on?” He had to know.

Closing his eyes, he tried to locate Sin and the gallu, but all he saw was a haze with no real form or substance. That didn't surprise him, though. He usually had a hard time seeing anything below while he was in Artemis's temple. She didn't want him to know since it would make him even more restless to leave than he already was.

But there was one person who could tell him what he needed to know.…

He returned to the balcony outside Artemis's main room and leaned against the railing. Closing his eyes again, he let his
ensyneiditos
travel out of his body, through the cosmos until he was in his mother's garden. It was the only break he was allowed while here. Because the
ensyneiditos
was simply the conscious part of himself and not his body, he could use it to visit others while trapped on Olympus.

It was also the
only
way he could ever visit with his mother. If he ever appeared to her in the flesh, it would release her from her prison and allow her to destroy the world—which was her one goal in life.

His goal was to prevent that.

Floating into Kalosis, he found her sitting near the pool in the back. The obsidian rocks were as iridescent as her pale skin as she scryed by using the black water to make a
sfora.
His mother had lifted a portion of the water up to form a dark swirling ball in the air.

But what stunned him was the woman who stood beside her. It was a face he'd seen before, but only in his dreams. Her features were similar to his, only there was enough of her mother in that face to mark her for what she was.

His daughter.

“Katra?”

The ball splintered and fell in droplets back to the water as the two of them turned to face him. And when those green eyes looked into his, he wanted to cry. But pain was nothing new to him. He was so used to hiding it that it didn't even require any real effort on his part.

“Apostolos,” his mother said breathlessly before she rose to her feet. She looked back and forth between them. “Are you angry?”