Dev and Sam were about to kill themselves.
Two against Aello was a fool's errand. While Ethon had never faced her himself, his grandfather had been with Herakles when Herakles had defeated her. When Ethon had been a small boy, his grandfather had spent hours detailing the vicious attacks of the Amazons as a tribe and Aello in particular.
No one escaped them unscathed without divine intervention. Which both Sam and Dev lacked.
This was going to get bloody and if no one helped them, they wouldn't live through the stupidity.
Reaching for his phone, he made a quick call.
If they were going to battle, they weren't going alone. I won't let you die again, Samia. This time he wouldn't fail her. And if he had to lay down his own life for hers, so be it.
Dev met Fang in the hallway. By Fang's grim visage, he knew the wolf would much rather be tending the bar tonight than joining him on a suicide run. Not that he blamed him in the least. He'd rather be downstairs himself.
But not at the cost of Sam's freedom.
"You know you can stay here," he said to his brother-in-law. "I'd actually prefer it."
Fang shook his head. "I would never leave you do to this alone. You didn't shirk at going into hell to help me, Dev. I've not forgotten it."
Which was why Dev had grown to appreciate his unique family member. Fang had proven himself worth the risk Dev had taken to save him and he was glad to call him brother.
Sam cleared her throat. "We better hurry. We don't have much time until dark."
Dev inclined his head. Just as he was about to teleport himself and Sam to the circle, he saw two people coming up the stairs.
Ethon and Scorpio.
And they were dressed for battle. Both in solid black, Ethon was dressed in a pair of slacks and a button-down shirt. His long coat hid a full weapons arsenal. Knives, at least one gun, and most likely a sword. Scorpio on the other hand was much more overt. He wore a short-sleeved shirt with leather vambraces Dev knew concealed steel spikes he could shoot out and use to punch through just about anything.
Dev scowled at them. "What are you doing here?"
Ethon gave him a shit-eating grin. "Covering your back, Cochise."
Interesting comparison. Cochise had been resourceful and clever, escaping death time and again. Dev only hoped that when this war was over, he was as lucky as the Apache chief to die at peace.
Sam drew up short as she saw the Spartan there. "Ethon--"
He held his hand up to stop her protest. "It's all right, Samia. Scorpio and I have run it past Ash. The Dogs stand together. You know this. Warriors to the end."
"Fools to the end," she snapped.
Ethon's grin widened. "Always."
Sam wanted to argue with him, but she knew it would only waste time they didn't have. Ethon was every bit as impossible and stubborn as Dev. "Fine. Make sure you keep up."
Fang stepped toward Ethon. "I'll take this one."
"I got the other." Dev met her gaze. "I'll see you in a minute."
Sam watched as they teleported from the hallway to the park. She took a moment to glance around the old house as she felt a strange tremor of foreboding go down her spine. Evil was at play here.
She only hoped she was the sole target of it.
Closing her eyes, she teleported to where Fang and Dev were standing in the fading sunlight. There was no sign of the Dark-Hunters.
Her heart stopped beating. Had they burst into flames?
"Did you get hungry and eat my colleagues?"
Dev pointed down to the dark green wool blanket at his feet that she'd somehow missed seeing. "There's still enough daylight to blister you guys so we hid them fast."
But oddly the sunlight wasn't hurting her at all--most likely because of her ghostlike form. Amazed, she watched the first sunset she'd seen in over five thousand years. The sky was absolutely breathtaking with ribbons of pink and orange twisting through the darkening blue.
If only she could feel the rays on her skin.
But seeing it was enough. She wanted to cry over the sight she'd missed all this time. "It's beautiful." But that tender swell in her breast died as she glanced down to the blanket and realized what it looked like spread out over the grass.
Two dead bodies.
And it was painfully obvious there were bodies under that blanket.
A car slowed down as it drove past them, raising the hair on the back of her neck. The driver stared at them until Fang looked over at her. Then the driver gunned the engine and sped away as fast as she could.
Sam let out an elongated breath. "Sheez, guys, I think we better hurry before someone calls the cops and tells them you're trying to hide bodies in the Pontchartrain."
Ethon's laugh rang out from under the blanket.
Dev kicked him. "Sorry. Accident."
Ethon growled low in his throat. "You better be glad I'm pinned, Bear."