Page 11 of One Silent Night (Dark-Hunter 15)
CHAPTER 5
NICK LAY ON THE FLOOR, TREMBLING AND IN A cold sweat as he tried to focus. It was no use. Everything swam before his eyes. His body felt like it was black asphalt at three o'clock on a late August afternoon in the French Quarter.
What was happening to him?
"Sh . . ." A tender hand brushed his sweaty hair back from his face.
Looking up, he found Menyara there. Tiny and beautiful, her Creole skin was the perfect cafe au lait color. Her green eyes watched him with concern. "It's all right, mon petit ang," she said in a deep voice that had always reminded him of Eartha Kitt's.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice thick and scratchy.
"I felt your powers unlock and came as soon as I could."
He frowned in confusion. "What?"
Menyara shook her head as she gathered him into her arms and held him like she'd done when he'd been a scared little boy afraid of the neighborhood bullies. "My poor Ambrosius. You've been through so much already. Now there's something I'd hoped I'd never have to tell you . . ."
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND." STRYKER SHOOK HIS head, trying to make sense of what Zephyra and War had told him. "How can Nick Gautier be this supremely powerful creature? He's a worthless gnat."
War took a deep breath before he spoke in an impatient tone. "When the Primus Bellum was fought, the darkest power-the Mavromino-created the Malachai to bring down the Sephirii. Guardians and consorts of the first order of gods, the Sephirii were soldiers who enforced the original laws of the universe. When the Mavromino turned against the Source and thought to end all creation, the Sephirii were unleashed to kill him. Most of them flew into traps. But enough Sephirii survived to declare war on the Malachai, and they would have destroyed them had they not been betrayed by one of their own."
"There's always one, isn't there?" Stryker asked rhetorically. In every house, there was always one malcontent jealous prick out to destroy everyone else just for spite. The entire history of the earth was written in the blood of those betrayed by the very people they'd foolishly trusted.
He looked at War. "So how many Malachai are there now?"
"There should be none. When the truce finally came, both sides agreed to execute their own soldiers. All of the Malachai and Sephirii were then put down."
"Except for one," Zephyra said, stepping forward. "The Betrayer who'd helped Mavromino was to live on to suffer and to see what he'd done. His powers were bound and he was to be forever shamed and enslaved."
War nodded. "Checks and balances. Apparently when they allowed the one Sephiroth to live, the primal order allowed a Malachai to escape as well. And today, I met the last of their breed."
Fucking figured. Stryker should have known it wouldn't be so easy to kill off the two men who aggravated him most. But then, on the bright side, it made him feel better that War was having as hard a time bringing them down as he had. At least it wasn't a question of his lacking skill.
The universe just basically sucked and blew.
"Where is this Sephiroth?" Stryker asked Zephyra.
"In Greece. In the last functioning temple of Artemis."
Stryker snorted as realization stung him. He knew instantly who the Sephiroth was and why he'd been so abused. "Jared."
She inclined her head in a sarcastic gesture. "Jared."
Which begged one extremely important question. "And just how did you happen to come into possession of him?"
She refused to answer. "All that matters is that I own him and he will do whatever I say without question."
Yeah, right. She seemed a little too optimistic for his mental health. "He didn't seem so compliant when I met him."
"Perhaps not, but he will do as we want. Trust me."
Stryker was less than convinced. Still, he noted her peculiar choice of pronoun. "We?"
"You want Gautier dead. I want you dead. Personally I don't care if this Gautier lives or dies, but if he is a threat to my Sephiroth, I want him terminated, too. Best to catch him before he learns to use his powers."
Stryker smiled. "A woman after my own heart."
For once her look was seductive and it made him hard just to see it. "You're absolutely right about that. Nothing would please me more than ripping that organ out of you and feasting on it."
War arched a brow at her open hostility. "Mmm, a woman I can relate to. Please tell me you're unattached."
"She's my wife," Stryker snapped.
"Was," Zephyra corrected quickly. "You seem to have forgotten an important verb tense." She looked up at War. "He divorced me."
War lifted her hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss on her knuckles. "Pleased to meet you, my lady. What name do I apply to one so fair and vicious?"
"Zephyra."
"Like the wind. Soft and gentle."
She gave him a sly smile. "And capable of utter destruction when riled."
He sucked in his breath in sharp appreciation. "I commend you, Stryker. You have excellent taste in women. Too bad you weren't man enough to hold on to her."
Against his better sense, Stryker shoved him away from her. "Zephyra is mine. You'd do well to remember that."
War looked less than intimidated as he turned to address Zephyra. "After you kill him, give me a call and I'll show you what a real man is capable of. In the meantime, if we're going to kill the Malachai, and I definitely am in for that, we need to get started. Every second we delay, his powers grow."
"Then back to Greece to release my Sephiroth." She looked at Stryker. "Return me to my temple."
JARED SIGHED AS HIS BLOODIED AND RAW WRISTS throbbed in utter agony. How he wished he could die. But this was his fate for all eternity.
It's what you deserve, traitor.
Perhaps it was. But at the time he'd done it, he'd made the only decision he'd been able to.
Leverage. Life was all about leverage and the balance of power had never been with him. All creatures were victims of their births and families. With all the power he commanded, not even he had been immune. Disgusted by that, he tensed as he felt a foreign ripple through the air around him. He knew that sensation . . .
An instant later, clarity came as the door opened to admit his bane Zephyra and two men. One was the Daimon demigod again. The other . . .
Polemus. War.
