"Get off me, you lard-ass, halitosis, flea-infested horror-movie reject," he snarled in Charonte.
That succeeded in another head slam to the floor. The Charonte pulled back and wrapped itself around him like a boa constrictor. And much like the snake, he knew this was its final move before it tore him apart and ended his existence.
Alexion tried to pull its arms away.
Yeah, that's going to work. Why not spit at him while you're at it?
What he needed was Simi.
But in lieu of that…
He was pretty much screwed.
Danger was terrified as she watched the demon maul Alexion while Alexion was helpless against it. Until this moment, she hadn't even known he could bleed. It was frightening to see something do that much damage to someone she'd foolishly assumed was invincible.
She reached for her sword.
The demon let go of Alexion to lunge at her. She grabbed the sword and plunged it deep into the demon at the same time Alexion shouted, "No!"
She quickly figured out why he would say that when the demon snatched the sword out of her hands, removed it from his body, then went after her with it.
She braced herself to fight and die, but just as the demon reached her, Alexion rushed it and knocked it back. The two of them spun away from her.
"Protula akri gonatizum, vlaza!"
She had no idea what those words meant, but the demon immediately released him. To her utter shock, it actually dropped down to one knee, crossed its arms over its chest, and bowed its head reverently.
"Whoa," she breathed, in awe of what had just quelled the unstoppable. "What did you say?"
He didn't answer as he gently took her arm and led her toward the door. He wiped his hand against his split lip and bloodied nose, and hurried her through the house.
"What are we doing?" she asked.
"Getting the hell out of here while we're able," he whispered.
"But it stopped."
"Yeah, I stunned him with a command I'm sure he doesn't hear much. The thing is, I'm not the one who actually has the power to make him obey me, and I'm not sure how long it will take him to realize that. Therefore I vote we blow Dodge before that demon breaks us into pieces."
Fleeing sounded good to her. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure it wasn't following them through her house. "What was that thing?"
"It's a Charonte demon."
"A what?"
He led her to the garage and opened the door to her merlot-red BMW Z4. "Get in."
She stiffened at his commanding tone. No one told her what to do.
No one.
"Don't order me around."
He gave her a bland stare. "Fine. Then stay and fight him on your own. I'm out of here."
She glared her irritation at Alexion before she complied with his order. Yeah, if the demon could do that to him… Well, if she wanted her face rearranged, she'd call a surgeon.
At least then she'd be unconscious for the worst of it.
It wasn't until he joined her in the car that a thought occurred to her. "Do you know how to drive?"
He answered her by starting her car without keys and backing it out. Her garage door opened in record time. Alexion did an impeccable J-turn in her driveway, then raced them down the street.
"I guess you do," she said quietly. He handled the car like a pro. "So, Magellan, where are we going?"
"Away. I'm open to any location, so long as it doesn't involve returning to your house while Wart-Head is there."
She couldn't agree more. "How long do you think the demon will wait before it comes after us?"
"I have no idea. It could depend on who's pulling his chain or what his orders were. Let us hope that time has no meaning to him and he stays there a few centuries."
"I don't know about that. It is my house, you know? I'd like to return to it in a day or two. You don't really think he'll still be there for days, or God forbid, longer, do you?"
Alexion expelled a tired breath. "I don't know. I really don't."
Great. She now had an image of her house looking like Mrs. Haversham's from Dickens's Great Expectations—complete with cobwebs and running mice—once she returned to it. She shivered. "Will you at least tell me what you said to him to make him stop attacking you?"
He gave her a wry grin that was strangely becoming on him. "Basically, I said, 'Bow down before your lord and master, slime-ball.'"
She laughed. Only Alexion would try that one. "What language did you use? I've never heard anything like that before."
"Atlantean."
That didn't make sense. He'd admitted to being an ancient Greek, not an Atlantean. "How do you speak the language of a country that was long gone before you were born?"
He gave a low laugh. "I live with Acheron. It's about all he speaks when he's at home."
"Really?"
He nodded.