Stryker slid off the desk, moving closer to him. "Already you've seen his work. Wasn't Marco where I told you he would be?"
"Yes."
Good, his Daimons had done what they were supposed to. "Was he not killed how I told you?"
"Yes."
"And was the Alexion not there?"
Kyros nodded. "Everything you've told me has come to pass."
"Then who is lying to you?"
His answer was automatic. "They are."
"Yes," Stryker said, finally smiling. "They're lying and so what are we going to do about it?"
Kyros gave him a hard, sinister glare. "Kill him."
Danger watched Alexion as he sat at the small round table looking completely defeated. For a man who claimed to have no emotions whatsoever, he was definitely showing them now.
At his insistence that they not return to her house where they could be found again by the demon (or for all they knew, the demon might still be waiting for them), they'd rented a hotel room.
To be honest, Danger was a little nervous about staying here. She didn't like feeling this exposed. If the maid were to open the door during the day and let sunlight in…
Alexion, according to his own admission, wouldn't explode into dust, but she would. And no offense, being roasted wasn't something she wanted to experience unless it involved one of her friends telling embarrassing stories about her.
But Alexion had assured her that he wouldn't let any harm befall her.
I suppose this is the test then.
If she survived the day, he was honest. If she didn't… she would be seriously pissed.
And dead.
In the meantime, it was just the two of them in the small hotel room. And to be honest, Alexion looked weary and beat by what had happened with Kyros. The poor man had been so upset that he hadn't even touched his dinner.
"He'll come around," she said as she pulled her boots and socks off.
He looked up at her. "I wish I had your faith."
"Then have faith in Acheron. That's what you keep telling me to do. Would he have sent you here to fail?"
"Yes," he said, his voice tired and yet strangely determined.
His answer surprised her. "No he wouldn't. That would be cruel."
"Yes," he insisted. "He would have. As Acheron would say, sometimes you have to fail in order to succeed. Whether we want it or not, there is an order in the universe. It's hard to understand and many, many times it's hard to swallow, but it's there and our choices are our own. Failure is part of life and no one can succeed every time they try something."
She huffed at that. "Well, that sucks."
He nodded in agreement. "But failure is the price of having free will."
"Maybe we would be better off without it then."
He gave a short laugh. "That's what Acheron thinks most of the time. He really hates free will, but he will never interfere with it."
"How could he?"
Alexion grew quiet again.
She could sense his restlessness and yet he sat there perfectly still. She'd eaten twice during the night. He hadn't. He'd only said that he wasn't hungry. But then given the fact that he couldn't really taste food, she could understand that.
"Are you going to come to bed?"
He let out a long breath before he answered. "I'll sleep later."
"Alexion…"
"I'm fine, Danger. Really."
No he wasn't. She didn't need a sfora to see that.
Feeling for him, she went to stand beside his chair. "You're not really fine."
He looked up at her. Those green eyes of his were haunting in their beauty and pain. "No, I'm not."
His confession caught her off guard.
"You know," he said quietly, "I'm the one who monitors Acheron's e-mail account. I'm there in Katoteros when his cell phone starts ringing off the hook from all of you wanting to talk to him, day and night. There are times when it makes him completely insane. But I envy him the chaos. The 'human' contact. I think it's why he never verbally complains about it around me. He knows how much I would kill for it."
Her heart ached for him and for the lost sadness she saw in the depths of those glowing green eyes.
"My life is so endless," he said, his voice carrying the full weight of his misery. "The only contact I have outside of Acheron and Simi is with other Shades. The ones who are damned scream at me to help them because they know I'm one of the few beings who can hear them. The ones who live on the Isle of Padesios aren't interested in making friends with me. They avoid me every time I go near them."
"The Isle of what?"
He sighed. "It's a region in Katoteros where Acheron allows the Shades a facsimile of paradise. Their existence, like mine, is limited, but they don't suffer. Not like the others do. Although I think the knowledge that they can never again be human is punishment enough. I think that's why they hate me so. I at least have some semblance of a corporeal form. They don't and they never will again."
"Why doesn't Ash give it to them?"