If you had a problem, you killed it.
End of problem.
Subtleties and politics were beyond her.
Simi just was. She wasn't amoral or vicious, she was just an extremely young demon with godlike powers who had no comprehension of deceit or treachery.
How he envied her that. It was why he shielded her so carefully. He didn't want her to learn the hard lessons that had been dealt to him.
She deserved to have the childhood he had never known. One that was sheltered and protected. One in which no one was allowed to hurt her.
He didn't know what he would do without her.
She'd been nothing more than an infant when she'd been given to him. Barely twenty-one himself, the
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) two of them had pretty much raised each other. They were both the last of their kind on this earth.
For more than eleven thousand years it had been just the two of them.
She was as much a part of him as any vital organ.
Without her, he would die.
The door of the temple opened. Simi hissed, baring her fangs, letting him know Artemis had returned early.
Ash turned his head for confirmation. Sure enough, the goddess was striding toward him.
He let out a tired breath.
Artemis pulled up short as she saw Simi sitting at his feet "What is it doing off your arm?
"
"Talking to me, Artie.
"
"Make it go away.
"
Simi huffed. "I don't have to do nothing you say, you old heifer cow. And you are old. Really, really old.
And a cow, too.
"
"Simi," Ash said, stressing her name. "Please return to me.
"
Simi cast an evil glare at Artemis, then became a dark, amorphous shadow. She moved over to him and laid herself over his chest to become a huge dragon on his torso with fiery spirals that wrapped around and down both of his arms.
Ash laughed darkly at the sight. It was Simi's way of hugging him and tweaking Artemis at the same time.
Artemis thoroughly hated it whenever Simi covered so much of his body.
Artemis let out a disgusted sound. "Make it move."
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why are you back so early?
"
She instantly became nervous.
His bad feeling tripled. "What happened?
"
Artemis walked to the column at his feet, wrapped her arm around it and leaned against the marble. She played with the gilded edge of her peplos as she worried her lip.
Ash sat up straight, his stomach knotted. If she was this evasive something had gone mind-blowingly wrong. "Tell me, Artemis."
She looked exasperated and angry. "Why should I tell you? You'll just get angry at me and you practically stay that way anyway. I tell you, then you'll want to leave and you can't leave and then you'll yell at me."
The knot in his gut tightened. "You have three seconds to talk or I'm forgetting about your fear that one
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) of your family members will discover I'm living in your temple. I will use my powers and I will find out what has happened on my own.
"
"No!" she snapped, turning to look at him. "You can't do that.
"
A tic started in his jaw.
She moved back, putting the column between them. She took a deep breath as if for strength, then spoke in the voice of a small, frightened child. "Thanatos is loose.
"
"What!" he roared, lowering his legs to the floor and coming to his feet.
"See! You're yelling.
"
"Oh, trust me," he said between clenched teeth, "this isn't yelling. I haven't even come close to it yet.
"
Ash pushed himself away from the banister and paced angrily around the long balcony. It took all his strength not to lash out at her. "You promised me you would recall him.
"
"I tried, but he got away.
"
"How?
"
"I don't know. I wasn't there and now he refuses to heel.
"
Ash glared at her.
Thanatos was on the loose and the only one who could stop him was under house arrest in Artemis's temple.
Damn her for her tricks and promises. There was no way he could leave here. Unlike the Olympians, once he gave his word, he was bound by it.
It would kill him to break his oath. Literally.
Anger roiled through him. Had she listened to him the first time, they wouldn't be reliving this nightmare.
"You swore to me nine hundred years ago when I killed the last one that you wouldn't re-create Thanatos. How many people did that one kill? How many Dark-Hunters? Do you even remember?"
She stiffened and returned his glare. "I told you, we needed someone to corral your people. You won't do it. You won't even control your demon. It was the only reason I made another one. I need someone who can execute them when they misbehave. You, you just make excuses for them. 'You don't understand, Artemis. Waa, waa, waa.' I understand, all right. You prefer to tend to anyone but me so I created someone who listens when I speak." She glared meaningfully at him. "Someone who actually obeys me."