“If we have enough gallu to go around, yeah. That’s why we’ve been leaving Dark-Hunters alone these last few years. You’re not our primary targets anymore. The gallu are.”
Xander gaped and turned toward Urian. “Did you know that?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t everyone?”
“No, they don’t.” Xander’s phone started ringing. The shocked expression on his face was quite comic. “There’s cell service in hell?”
Davyn laughed. “We have cable and Internet, too. Hell would not be complete without reality TV and telemarketers.”
Snorting at his sarcasm, Xander answered his phone. And the soft, tender way the tough guy spoke made them all stop and stare at him.
“Hey, baby. No, I’m sorry. I should have left a note, but it was Ash and it came up suddenly. Yeah, I’m a thoughtless ass, you know that.” He paused to glare at them. “Be back soon … you, too. Bye.” In a huff, he hung it up and slid it into his pocket. “What, you jackals?”
Davyn’s eyes widened. “Thought Dark-Hunters couldn’t have a girlfriend?”
“Could be my boyfriend, you don’t know.” Xander pushed past him.
Davyn let out an evil laugh. “Actually, I do. And if you were family, brother, I’d be all over that—” He glanced down to Xander’s ass. “Believe you me. Anytime you’re ready to turn, give me a shout.”
Rolling his eyes, Xander cast his gaze around at the lot of them. “It’s none of anyone’s business.”
Urian passed a knowing look to Xyn. He knew that level of pissed off. That was a man who had a serious relationship with someone he wasn’t supposed to and didn’t want to discuss it.
Wow …
And he thought he had problems.
Which he did, hence this trip through hell.
“Where exactly are we?” Blaise asked.
“A dark and bitter forest.”
He snorted at Xyn’s answer. “Ha ha, sis. Ha ha. Not what I meant. What is this place used for?”
“This is a no-man’s-land.” Urian pointed toward the dark wall to their left that was covered with steeled thorns. “What you want to avoid is crossing to the barrier lands where the souls of the damned reside. Those are some nasty bastards. Back in the day, some of the stronger Apollites tried to feed off their souls.”
“Did not go well for them.” Davyn shuddered.
“Yeah. We had a huge problem with trelos outbreaks. But when you’re desperate enough … you do dumb shit.”
Xander stopped dead in his tracks to stare at them. “So what? Your people ate the souls that were here?”
Urian nodded. “Not like we had a lot of choice.” He jerked his chin toward the barrier. “My father, with Apollymi’s help, erected that barrier when we were teens to help confine the most corrupt souls that he feared our people couldn’t handle.”
A strange glow came over Xander’s body. He turned a slow circle.
“Not all the gods are dead here.”
Shadow drew up short. “He’s right. I feel it, too.”
Urian sensed nothing. He turned toward Xyn.
“I’ve got nothing. It feels the same as it always has.”
Xander held his hand out toward Shadow. Without hesitation, Shadow took it. The two of them grew quiet as a breeze began to blow around their small group.
Urian moved to cover Xyn and Brogan, along with Blaise and Davyn. His arm began to glow even though he couldn’t sense whatever they were picking up on.
“I’m still getting nothing.”
Shadow looked at that wall. “I think it’s coming from in there.”
“Could a god have gotten in?”
Xyn had a bad feeling when Brogan asked her question. “Or was she or he already inside when they were put there?”
And made stronger.
That was a terrifying thought.
“Anyone else getting an ulcer?” Blaise gulped audibly.
“Mine just had twins,” Shadow said with a sigh. “Mazel tov!”
“Let’s back away from the barrier.” Xyn grabbed Urian and pulled him toward the city where the Daimons lived.
“You think Phoebe might have taken refuge there?”
Urian really didn’t like Xander’s question. “It’s possible. But—” He broke off as he felt the strangest sensation.
Like something slithering up his legs. His head began to spin.
“Urian?”
He heard Xyn, but he couldn’t respond. Or move. His breathing turned thick and ragged. Everything spun.
One moment he was reaching for Xyn and the next …
He was in a vortex. Only he hadn’t summoned a portal. Rushing winds filled his ears as he tried to get his bearings to figure out where he was going and how he’d stumbled into one when he hadn’t been moving.
When he hit the ground, it was so hard it broke the band holding his hair, causing it to spill out over his shoulders. Worse, he smacked his head against the concrete hard enough to momentarily rattle his senses.
He hadn’t been hit that hard since Archie had sucker-punched him. Damn, he’d forgotten how bad it hurt to be hit unexpectedly. Pushing himself up, he blinked and scanned the huge, cold room to find himself inside an ancient temple similar to Apollymi’s.
Only this one was made of deep, glittering obsidian. Large jade pots were set apart every few feet so that they could burn with an unholy green fire that cast eerie shadows on the walls.
“I would apologize for the rough landing, but I only wish it’d been harder for you.”
Urian froze at the sound of Phoebe’s bitter voice. Shocked, he turned around to find her sitting on a throne almost identical to Stryker’s. That was stunning enough.
But it wasn’t the most jaw-dropping element.
Oh no … not by a long shot. Gone was his timid, sweet little wife. The woman on that throne had her golden hair teased up and braided in an elaborate, ancient Atlantean style. Dressed in a sheer, shimmering gown, she was a thing of exquisite beauty who had more in common with Apollymi than his shy bride.
“Charonte got your tongue?”
She wasn’t trelos … or was she?
This Phoebe reminded him of that first trelos he’d killed as a boy. The one who’d been so freakishly lucid and in command of himself.
“You’ve changed.”
“Really? That’s all you have to say to me?”
“Well, you did drop me on my head and rattle my brains, love.”
She stood up from her throne with fury in her eyes. That was a look that used to herald a thorough tongue-lashing for him, and not the kind that he looked forward to. The kind that left him hard up and pissed off.
“You broke your word to me, Urian.”
Wiping at the blood on his face, he gaped at her. “You mean when Stryker cut my throat?”
“I called for you and you didn’t come!”
“I came as soon as I could. And I was told you were dead.”
She ran at him and shoved him back. “How could you not know!”
“I wasn’t a Daimon anymore, Phoebe. I don’t have the same powers now that I had then.”
“You left me!” she shrieked, repeating her accusation.
Urian caught her against him. “I thought you were dead.”
“How could you not know? I was right here!”
“Again, Phee, Stryker cut my throat. I’ve been banned from Kalosis. I was protecting your sister like I promised you.”
“What else have you been doing, huh?”
He scowled. “What?”
She slapped him. “How long until you found your dragon bitch and crawled back into her bed?”
Anger tore through him at her accusation. “Oh my God, Phoebe! I haven’t gone near a woman in years! I’ve lived in hell because of you. Are you kidding?”
“Then why aren’t you glad to see me?”
“You dropped me on my head!” He enunciated each word slowly. “You attacked me. You slapped me! Why do you think?” Furious beyond endurance, he gestured at the door. “I came here to help you, even though I’m banned. I aligned myself to the Dark-Hunters whom you know I hate. How much more could I do to prove to you that I loved you?”
She grabbed him then and sank her fangs into his neck.
Urian hissed in pain. Damn, he’d forgotten how much that hurt, and now that he was no longer an Apollite or Daimon, he didn’t get the adrenaline or sexual surge from it. All he felt was the agony.
Apparently, so did Phoebe. Shrieking even louder than before, she lifted her head and shoved him back. “What did they do to you?”
“I told you. Stryker killed me because I helped you and Cassandra.”