He looked confused by her apology.
"You should have told me you were a former DarkHunter."
"Why does it matter?"
"It matters," she said, lightly stroking his arm. "If you're telling me the truth and I'm sure that you are, then I know Stryker was lying."
His face went pale at the mention of the Daimon's name. "Stryker? The Daimon?"
"You know him?"
Alexion cursed. He looked up at the ceiling. "Acheron! If you can hear me at all, get your ass here right now, boss. We've got a serious problem."
When nothing happened, he cursed again. "Acheron!"
"What is going on?" Danger asked.
Alexion looked ill. "I don't even know where to begin explaining to you how fucked we are if Stryker is here and Acheron isn't."
"He's just a Daimon."
"No," he said, in a deep warning tone, "he's a god, a very vicious one who hates Acheron with an unreasoning mind."
Now that didn't sound promising at all. Fear swelled inside her. If someone as powerful as Alexion was afraid of this guy, then there was definitely something to fear. "Are you serious?"
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
No, he looked all too earnest and that left her cursing too.
Alexion shook his head like someone trying to shake off an annoying insect. "Simi," he snapped. "Stop watching me and go get akri. I need him."
Barely five seconds later, Danger heard a voice that made her sigh in relief.
"Danger? Alexion?" Acheron said from her hallway.
"Thank goodness," she said, moving toward the door.
"No!" Alexion snapped as she reached for the knob. He ran at her and knocked her back at the same time the door splintered. Pieces of it rained all over the room.
Danger's eyes widened in numbed terror as she saw what appeared to be a demon of some sort entering the room. Completely bare except for a small black loincloth, it had deep, dark green skin marbled with black. Probably no taller than four feet, it flew into the room with a pair of large black, oily-looking wings. It held glowing yellow eyes that stared at them with open hatred. The dual set of fangs flashed as it hissed at Alexion.
Danger gulped. "Please tell me that's the Simi person you've been calling."
The creature arced toward the ceiling as if it were preparing to swoop down and attack them.
Alexion's green gaze mirrored the horror she felt. When he spoke, the words went through her like hot shrapnel. "It's definitely not Simi."
Chapter 10
Alexion stared in complete stupefaction of the Charonte demon as it flew at them. Where the hell had it come from? Simi was supposed to be the last of her kind, and yet there was no denying that this demon was a Charonte. Nothing else on this earth or beyond looked like that.
"What is it?"
He didn't respond to Danger's question as he moved away from her to keep the demon's attention on him. "Qui' esta rahpah?" he asked the demon, wanting to know where it had come from.
Pausing momentarily, the demon showed its own surprise that Alexion spoke its native language. But that didn't stop him from attacking.
Before Alexion could move, it dove down, seized him by his throat, and slung him to the floor. He hit the ground so hard that had he been human, every bone in his body would have shattered.
The demon tore at him with its claws. Alexion brought his leg up to kick the demon off.
It didn't work.
He flashed away from it, but somehow the demon anticipated the action, and when he reappeared, it grabbed him again. This time it slammed him facedown on the floor. His teeth rattled as the demon seized him by the hair.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Danger grab a sword that she had hidden beneath her sofa.
"Stay back!" he shouted an instant too late. The demon caught her with his tail and knocked her off her feet. There was no way to win a fight with a Charonte. Not unless you were a god; and though Alexion could call upon Acheron's powers, they weren't really his.
That left him with one serious disadvantage.
The demon rolled with him. Alexion flashed out again only to have the demon seize him while he was invisible.
Give it up, Lex. The damned thing can obviously see you transmutate. Damn.
He punched at the demon, who didn't feel his blows at all. But Alexion did. His hand throbbed as if it were broken. The demon laughed at him as it grabbed him up, dropped him to the ground, and slammed his head painfully against the floor. It felt as if his brains really did rattle in his skull. He could taste the blood in his mouth, feel it running from his nose.
If he didn't get the demon off him soon, it would kill him. And this time, Acheron wouldn't be able to bring him back.
Alexion tried to call up the force field to block his blows. It was less effective than a flyswatter against a rhino. No wonder the Greek gods lived in fear of this species. They were horrifyingly powerful. The only real question was, how did the Atlantean gods ever subjugate them?