She followed him. "If you want to save the life of your human, Acheron, you have to give me what I want. Swear to me that you'll never touch or see her again and you can have your stupid journals and toys."
Ash looked at her as desolate pain tore through him. In all his life, he'd wanted only one thing. Someone to make him feel the way Tory did whenever she looked at him.
And now Artemis was demanding he give that up.
To save Tory's life.
His back burned from Artemis's anger, reminding him of how broken their relationship was. How could he go back to her when he'd found something so much better?
Then again what good would standing his ground do if Tory were dead? Could he live with the thought that she'd died because of him?
There has to be a way out of this. You're a god, not some worthless pawn.
No, he was through playing this game. "I won't pay your price, Artemis. And you should know that by asking it, you've severed the last vestige of me that ever cared for you."
She laughed bitterly. "You'll be back, begging for me to help you. Begging for the life of your pitiful human. I know you, Acheron."
He shook his head in denial. "No, you don't. And that's the most pathetic part of the sum of us. In all these centuries, you've never bothered to learn the most basic thing about me at all."
His heart sick with worry for Tory and hatred for Artemis, Ash returned to Sanctuary to page Jaden. Unlike many of the gods, Jaden refused to embrace modern technology. He'd banned all cell phones from working anywhere near him, but Ash had managed to talk him into a beeper so that he could at least page the broker so that they could partake of the one thing Jaden did like about the modern age.
Video games.
He'd barely dialed the number before Jaden appeared beside him looking as ill as Ash felt.
"Is Tory all right?"
Jaden crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "She's angry and indignant—not that I blame her in the least—but she hasn't been hurt."
Thank the gods for that. But it was only an extremely temporary relief. "I don't have the journal they want."
Jaden let out a low whistle. "That is going to be a problem. Can you get it?"
The answer would have made him laugh if it wasn't so sickening. "If I swear myself to eternal slavery to Artemis. Yes."
Jaden snorted. "I'd rather trade places with Prometheus and have my innards ripped out every day."
"So would I."
"Then what are you going to do?"
That seemed to be the question of the day. If only he had some solution. "Can you buy me some time?"
Jaden hedged. "Demons aren't exactly patient as a rule and particularly in this case. They seem to think that the journal will somehow free them."
"Free them from what?"
"Being servants. Living underground. Having to suffer the presence of Daimons and their stench—can't really blame them there. Escaping death matches with you and Sin every time they pop out of the ground—again can't blame them for that. But still . . ." Jaden shook his head in bitter amusement. "You have to remember that what we're dealing with here are Sumerian gallu demons. The next to the lowest form of demon on the demon food chain. They're simple demons really. Lowly. You know . . . morons."
Ash snorted. "They were bright enough to take her out of a Were sanctuary without getting caught."
Jaden arched a single brow over that. "That could probably bring Savitar over."
He wished. But their laws didn't work that way. "Humans aren't a protected class."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Savitar shares your 'all humans are vermin' mind set."
One corner of Jaden's mouth twisted into an evil smirk. "I wouldn't say all humans are vermin. They do have their uses—especially the females for brief periods of time. They're just so . . . pathetically human."
"Which is why you deal with demons."
"Who are even more pathetic than humans when you think about it. Personally, I'd rather play video games. Wouldn't it be great if we could suck the souls of the people we hated into the box, shoot them down and then dance in their entrails?"
Acheron rolled his eyes at the glee in Jaden's voice. "You woke up on the wrong side of the oak tree, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I have my own issues to deal with and, right now, the primary issue appears to be fucking over one of my only friends. I'll do my damnedest to buy you some time with the demons, but you need to come up with a miracle quickly." He started to fade out.
"Hey, Jaden?" Ash waited until he'd rematerialized before he spoke again. "Thank you. I know you don't have to do what you're doing for me and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it."
"It's okay. I'm sure one day I'm going to need help bending some rules backwards. And when I ask for your help I don't want to hear any shit from you."
"Anytime, agriato."