Page 59 of Dance With the Devil (Dark-Hunter 3)
"No," he lied, unable to tell her what he thought. She should never have lain with something like him. He was so far beneath her that he didn't deserve her kindness.
He deserved nothing.
And yet she reached out and touched him. It didn't make sense to him.
She leaned her cheek against his back and encircled his waist with her arm. He could barely breathe as she ran her hand over his chest in a comforting gesture.
"I have no regrets, Zarek. I hope you feel the same way."
He leaned back against her and tried not to let his aching heart overshadow what they had shared.
"How could I regret the best night of my life?" He laughed bitterly as he remembered everything that had happened since Jess had shaken him awake. "Well, except for the Terminator who's after us and the goddess who wants me dead and-"
"I get the picture," she said with a laugh. She nuzzled his neck, sending chills over him. "It does seem hopeless, doesn't it?"
He thought about that. " 'Hopeless' implies that at one time there was hope. And that's another word I don't understand. Hope only exists for people who have choices."
"And you don't?"
He toyed with a strand of her blond hair. "I'm a slave, Astrid. I've never known hope. I just do what I'm told."
"Yet you never have."
That wasn't exactly true. As a human, he had never dared open his mouth to protest anything. He had taken beating after beating, degradation after degradation, and done nothing.
It was only as a Dark-Hunter that he had learned to fight.
"Do you think Sasha's okay?"
Her sudden change of topic surprised him. "I do. Jess is a whiz with animals. Even Katagaria."
She chuckled at that. "Why, Zarek, I do believe you are learning to comfort someone after all. I half-expected you to say you were hoping he'd be lying dead in a ditch somewhere."
He looked down at her small hand on his skin, resting just above his heart. It was true. She was taming him.
Changing him.
And it scared him more than the monster that was out to kill them.
Thanatos he could deal with, but these emotions...
He was helpless before her.
"Yeah, well, with any luck he'll be beyond all help."
She laughed at that, then kissed him lightly on the back. She pulled away to dress.
Zarek watched her, his heart pounding. What was it about her that made him want to be something more than what he was?
For her, he actually wanted to be decent. Kind.
Humane.
Things he'd never been.
Forcing himself up, he tossed his old clothes into the trash can and pulled new ones out of his wardrobe. At least he no longer had the hole in the back of his coat. He took a couple of minutes to button her into one of his old parkas.
"What's this?" she asked as he draped it over her shoulders.
"It'll keep you warmer than your coat."
She put her arms through the much-too-long sleeves while he gathered up gloves, hats, and scarves for them.
"Where are we going? Won't it be dawn soon?"
"Yes and you'll see. Sort of."
Once he had her dressed properly and had pulled on his insulated boots, he moved the wood-burning stove aside so that he could reach the trapdoor underneath it.
He helped Astrid down the hole, then climbed down after her and closed the trapdoor. Using his telekinesis, he moved the stove back into place.
"Where are we?"
"The tunnels."
Zarek turned his flashlight on. It was darker than a tomb down here and colder than hell. But they would be safe. For a little while, at least.
If Thanatos came back during daylight, he wouldn't know about this place. No one did.
"What are the tunnels?"
"In short, my boredom. After I had carved up my cabin, I started digging under it. I figured it would give me more room to move about during the summer, and it's not quite so hot down here in summer or so cold in winter. Not to mention I was always paranoid Acheron would come to kill me one day. I wanted an escape route he didn't know about."
"But the ground is frozen solid. How did you manage?"
"I'm stronger than a human and I had nine hundred years to work on it. Being trapped and bored tends to make people do insane things."
"Like try to dig a tunnel to China?"
"Exactly."
He led her down the narrow corridor to a small room where he had weapons stored.
"Are we staying here for the day?"
"Since I don't want to spontaneously burst into flames from the sun, I think it's the safest thing to do, don't you?"
She nodded.
Once he had as much firepower as he could carry, he took her to the end of the longest tunnel. The trapdoor above them opened into the dense forest that surrounded his cabin. It would be a safe place to leave from after dark.
"Why don't you go ahead and get some sleep?" he said.
Without thinking, he pulled his musk-ox parka off and made her a small pallet on the floor.
Astrid started to protest, then stopped herself. Acts of kindness were alien to Zarek. She wasn't about to complain over his good deed.
Instead, she lay down on his coat.
But he made no move to join her. He walked around the limited space and seemed to be waiting for her to go to sleep.
Curious as to what he had planned, she closed her eyes and feigned slumber.
Zarek waited several minutes before he picked up the cell phone Spawn had given him. He climbed up the stairs and opened the trapdoor to the forest so that he could get some reception for the phone.
He made sure not to let the predawn light in.
Zarek didn't know if this would work or not, but he had to try.
He dialed Ash's number and pressed send.
"Come on, Acheron," he said under his breath. "Answer the damn phone."
Astrid lay quietly, knowing the cell phone would never ring where Ash was. Artemis wouldn't allow it.
But then, Artemis didn't control everything.
Using her limited powers, Astrid "helped" the signal.
Ash jerked awake the instant his phone rang. Out of habit, he rolled over in bed to reach for his backpack, only to remember where he was and that he wasn't allowed to answer his phone while in Artemis's temple.
Come to think of it, his phone shouldn't be ringing at all. It wasn't as if there was a cell tower on Olympus to carry the signal.
Which meant it had to be coming from Astrid...
But if Artemis caught him talking to the nymph, she'd go ballistic on him and recant their deal. Not that he cared what she did to him, but he wasn't about to unleash Artemis's temper on Astrid.
Grinding his teeth, he pulled his phone out and let his voice mail answer it while he listened to the message.
