Dark Side of the Moon (25 page)

Yeah.…
“Can I ask—”

“You're not ready for that answer,” he said, cutting her off. “The only person who needs to know what I am already knows. That would be me. I like to keep the rest of the world guessing.”

All things considered, she strangely liked this enigmatic man, even if he did have a titanic ego and frightening powers.

“But back to Ravyn.” He placed a heavily tattooed arm over Ravyn's shoulders and hugged him like an affectionate brother. “You're going to do me a favor.”

“I am?”

“Yes.” Savitar stepped away to clap him on the back. “I have a small matter that I need you to help me with.”

“You need
my
help?”

“Astonishing, isn't it?”

“You could say that.” Ravyn exchanged a puzzled look with her as she wondered what a man like this could possibly want with Ravyn. “So what is this favor?”

“I have a friend who has a friend who needs to be trained.”

“Trained for what?”

“To be a Dark-Hunter.”

Ravyn was stunned by his words. For the first time in centuries, he was beginning to wonder about Savitar's mental capacity. “I can't train another Dark-Hunter. We weaken each other's powers.”

“Normally, this would be true, but this particular Dark-Hunter is a little different from the others.”

Now that made him nervous. Different wasn't necessarily a good thing, especially in this work. “Different how?”

“In many ways. He was entrusted to me, but I've found that training someone to fight just isn't my forte.” Savitar screwed up his face. “It actually dawned on me that I don't fight. I just kill whatever annoys me, and it's over. Not to mention the kid is seriously cramping my style … which seriously annoys the hell out of me, and if I kill him, it'll just open a whole can of worms I don't want to deal with. Oh, and he's taken to complaining daily about how he wants to start training, wah, wah, wah.” He sighed. “I just can't be bothered with it. Too many waves to surf … know what I mean?”

Not really.
“Uh-huh, and who is this kid?”

Savitar snapped his fingers.

Susan gaped as a good-looking man in his mid- to late twenties appeared next to her. Standing a good six foot four, he had dark brown hair and black eyes, but what held her attention most was the double bow and arrow Dark-Hunter mark that covered his neck and part of his extremely unhappy face.

“What the hell is this, Savitar?” the man demanded.

“You wanted to be trained, Nick. Meet your new trainer. Ravyn Kontis, this is Nick Gautier.”

Ravyn gaped at the name that was meaningless to Susan.

“Nick Gautier? The New Orleans Squire who went missing?”

Savitar gave him a droll look. “He's obviously not missing. Open your eyes, man. He's standing right in front of you.”

Ravyn scowled. “No offense, Savitar, but this is a really bad time. I'm kind of in the middle of a situation here.”

“Yeah, I know. You're basically screwed. But Nick can actually help you with this matter. Not to mention the fact that you're missing a Dark-Hunter. He can be the replacement.”

“Can I ask one question?”

Savitar gave a heavy sigh. “I know you, Ravyn. I've known you for centuries, and Nick is a special member of this world. There's no one else I would trust to train him.”

Ravyn wanted to protest, but one thing he knew about Savitar was that he didn't like to be questioned. As he said, he tended to kill things that annoyed him, and questions definitely annoyed him.

Savitar moved to stand beside Nick. “You've been entertaining, Gautier. At least most of the time. And you play a mean-ass game of pool. Before I leave you, I have two quick things I want you to keep in mind. One, stay away from the Charonte demons. They're really bad for you.”

Nick didn't appear amused by his words of advice. “And the second?”

A wave of energy peaked in the room as Savitar's face lost all humor. “Is the life you seek to take worth the one you could one day create?”

Nick scowled. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“You'll learn.” There was something in Savitar's eyes that looked like regret as he clapped Nick on the back. “Remember, Nick, there are only two people in the universe I care for … and you're not one of them.”

“Damn,” Ravyn said, with a hint of humor. “Savitar, that's cold.”

Savitar took that in stride. “No one has ever accused me of being anything else. For good reason, I might add.”

Ravyn nodded. That was certainly true. He glanced to Susan, who seemed to be completely subdued by Savitar's presence. “Before you go, can I ask one last question?”

“You can ask.”

“Do you know where Acheron is?”

Savitar answered without hesitation. “Yes.”

He waited for Savitar to continue. When he didn't, Ravyn prompted him, “And where would that be?”

“He's tied up at the moment.”

“Tied up how?”

“Double-knotted to a bedpost, not that it's any of your business. That boy was always too trusting for his own good. You'd think by now he'd know better. But no. He's got to be stupid. Personally, I'd tie the bitch up, muzzle her, and ride her around the room with spurs on, but no one ever asks my opinion, do they? No. What do I know? I'm only omniscient.”

Was any of that supposed to make sense? Before Ravyn could ask anything more, Savitar vanished.

He stood there with Nick standing between him and Susan. The air around Nick was rife with anger and agitation. It was obvious the man wanted to be anywhere but here.

Ravyn released a perturbed breath. “This is awkward.”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “I'm really getting sick of being dumped on strangers.”

He could just imagine. “So why isn't Acheron training you?”

Hatred flared deep in the Cajun's eyes as he curled his lip. “You'll have to ask the bastard that for yourself. Seems he's not man enough to face me after he screwed me over.”

Ravyn sucked his breath in between his teeth. He only knew Nick vicariously through the Dark-Hunter bulletin boards that Nick had run as a Squire. In those days, Nick had been friendly enough, if not a bit acidic at times. Then one night, about two years ago, Nick had gone missing. No one had known what had happened to him.

Until now.

Susan gave him a sympathetic smile. “I take it you and Acheron aren't on the best of terms.”

“You think?” Nick looked around the room as if trying to place it. “Where am I?”

Ravyn exchanged an awkward glance with Susan before he answered. “Seattle.”

Nick frowned in her direction. “And who's she?”

Something about that look and his tone greatly perturbed her. “You know, I am right here in the room, not outside looking in, and to answer your question, I'm a Squire.”

“Bully for you,” he said coldly. Nick curled his lip. “What's the date?”

Ravyn felt a stab of reluctance go through him. From his past when he was a member of the Omegrion, he knew that Savitar's home, which was a floating island, existed outside of traditional time. Nick most likely had no idea how long he'd been gone or, more to the point, what had been happening in New Orleans over the last few months. “June 3, 2006.”

Nick's mouth dropped. “I'm missing almost two years of my life.”

“No, Nick,” Ravyn said quietly. “You're missing two years of your death.”

He grew quiet at the reminder.

“Let me get Dorian,” Susan said, her blue eyes filled with sympathy for a man she didn't even know. “I'm sure he has some place to put you.” But before she could move, the back door opened to show Otto coming in with a large box in his arms.

He took one look at Nick and froze in place.

Time hung still as the two men faced each other with a shared look of stunned shock. It was obvious that they never thought they'd see each other again.

Nick was the first to recover himself. “Otto? What are you doing here?”

“Me? I thought you were dead.…” He set the box down as he approached Nick like a man seeing a ghost for the first time. He offered Nick his hand and when he took it, Otto pulled him against his chest for a man hug.

When they pulled apart, Otto's gaze narrowed on the bow and arrow tattoo on Nick's face. “Jesus, it's true. You are a Dark-Hunter.”

Nick's features hardened as if he hated that fact. “Why are you in Seattle?”

“I—uh … I got transferred up here.”

“Why?”

A veil fell over Otto's face. Ravyn had to give him credit, he had the best poker face he'd ever seen. Otto, along with a whole crew of New Orleans Squires, had been evacuated out of the city just before Katrina hit. Since then, they'd been slowly moving back to Louisiana, with Otto, Tad, and Kyl being the last to go. They'd been kept here a little longer while the New Orleans Council recouped. Not to mention that the Daimons hadn't been very active there since the hurricane.

“Council's orders,” Otto said in a bland tone.

Nick nodded as if in understanding.

Otto's brow furrowed as he continued to stare at Nick like he was a bad science experiment. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm supposed to train him,” Ravyn said.

The poker face slipped as Otto's jaw went slack. “You?”

“Apparently.”

“What about Ash?”

Nick cursed. “He's recused himself.” There was so much tension in the air that it was tangible.

“We need to find Nick some place to sleep,” Susan said, trying to alleviate the unspoken hostility.

Otto shifted the box in his hands. “He can bunk in my room. I won't be sleeping for a while anyway.” He stepped past Nick, toward the stairs.

They disappeared for a second before Otto came back alone.

He neared the two of them, then spoke in a low whisper. “Whatever you do, don't mention Katrina to Nick. I don't think he needs to know what's happened to New Orleans until he gets some bearing on being back here again. Not to mention, he was originally from the Ninth Ward.”

“Don't worry,” Ravyn said. “I'm not about to tell him.”

Nodding, Otto left them again.

“Are you okay?” Susan asked.

Ravyn shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. Any more than I understand why Savitar would release Nick to me. How can I train him with all the crap that's going on?”

“Like he said, Savitar trusts you.”

Yeah, but he couldn't imagine why. This day made no sense whatsoever to him. Tired and baffled, he held his hand out to her so that they could return downstairs. “C'mon. We still have a lot of stuff to cover.”

*   *   *

Ash growled low in his throat as he twisted at the rope that held his arm to Artemis's bedpost. At the moment, he hated her.

No, wait, he basically hated her every moment of every day, but at this particular time, he really wanted to rip her head off and play a few games of baseball with it. He stared at the gold hourglass that was set on the shelf across from the bed and watched as the last few grains of black sand fell through it.

He should have known that nothing with Artemis would ever be simple. When he'd made the bargain with her, he forgot to stipulate that
she
had to stay in the room for a full hour. Instead, she'd finished her fifth orgasm, then vanished out from under him before he could uphold his part.

But not before she'd tied him to her bed to keep him from going after her. Leaning his head back, he ground his teeth in frustration. Yes, he could use his powers to free his arm, but whenever he did that, Artemis went wild on him because the other gods on Olympus could feel it. They weren't “supposed” to know that he was here.

Yeah, right. They'd known for centuries that he stayed with her in her temple, but all of them pretended ignorance so that they didn't have to deal with Artemis's temper tantrums.
If only I were that lucky.…

Dressed in a long, flowing white gown, Artemis appeared beside the bed. She feigned shock as she saw her hourglass that was now empty. “Oh no, did the hour end?”

“You know it did.”

She tsked. “Then I guess we have to start over, don't we?”

“Artie…”

“Don't take that tone with me, Acheron,” she said sullenly. “You accepted the terms of your release.” She freed his arm, then rubbed at the bruise on his wrist that had been caused by the rope. “Now, now, love, don't be petulant.”

Ash recovered his features to the typical stoicism he wore around her. Fine. Now that he knew the rules, he could turn them on her. Rising from the bed, he went to the hourglass and turned it over.

Artemis watched him with a curious frown.

Ash returned to her side and reached for the brooch that held her dress over her body. He opened the brooch and let her dress fall in a puddle at her feet. “Now where were we?”

*   *   *

Susan caught herself as her head dropped down. blinking, she stifled a yawn. Ravyn reached around her and took her hand from the keyboard.

“Let's call it a night.”

“But—”

“Susan, you've been a trouper, but it's already dawn and you look like you're ready to keel over from exhaustion. You can't keep going like this. You're as likely to overlook something as you are to find it.”

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She'd read the last paragraph at least a dozen times and she still wasn't sure what it said. Her head hurt and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. “I guess you're right.”

This time she didn't bother to hide her yawn as Ravyn shut down the computer for her.

“Did you find anything?” he asked her.

“Not yet. There are a couple of entries about some of the missing students whose parents called trying to locate them. Jimmy wrote that he took the inquiries to his chief only to be told not to worry about runaways. The chief told him he needed to focus his attention on other cases. That's odd, right? I mean, if he's covering up for Daimons, it makes sense. Otherwise why wouldn't he let Jimmy keep investigating their whereabouts?”