Seize the Night (Dark-Hunter #7)(18)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Before she finished the question another tall, insanely handsome man appeared in her kitchen. Dressed in black leather pants and a black shirt, he had white-blond hair and blue eyes.

He looked less than pleased as he narrowed those baby blues on Ash. "Don’t take that tone of voice with me, Ash. I don’t care who you are, I don’t like it."

"Like it or not, I need to know what the Spathis are up to. More precisely, I need to know if Desiderius is back on the playing field."

Horror filled her.

Urian curled his lip. "Why are you worried about him? Des is a punk."

"Desiderius is dead," Tabitha said emphatically. "Kyrian killed him."

Urian scoffed. "Yeah, and I’m the Easter Bunny-see my fluffy tail? You don’t just kill a Spathi, little girl. All you do is take him out of commission for awhile."

"Bullshit!" Tabitha snarled.

"No, Tabitha," Ash said, gentling his voice. "Desiderius’s essence was released. But if one of his brethren or children wanted to bring him back, they could. It’s not easy to do, but it is possible."

She was aghast that Ash had kept something this important from them. "Why didn’t you ever tell us this?"

"Because I was hoping it wouldn’t happen."

"Hoping?" Tabitha shrieked. "Please tell me you weren’t pinning my sister’s life and Kyrian’s on a hope."

Ash didn’t answer.

Meanwhile the true significance of the last few days settled fully on her shoulders. "So those really were Spathis I fought the night I met Valerius."

Urian snorted. "Trust me, little girl, you must have faced the neophytes. Had those been true Spathis, you’d both be dead now."

His arrogance was seriously starting to piss her off. Just who was this jerk anyway? "How do you know so much about them, Dr. Intellect?"

"I used to be one."

Her fury breaking, Tabitha rushed him.

Ash caught her and pulled her back. He lifted her up off the floor. Tabitha kicked and cursed as she struggled to reach Urian, who watched her with a smirk.

"Stop it, Tabby," Ash breathed in her ear. "Urian is on our side now. Believe me, he has paid for his allegiance to the other side more than you will ever know."

Yeah, right.

"How could you bring a Daimon into my house after what they did to me? To my family?" she demanded.

"Oh, I’m not a Daimon anymore, little girl," Urian said, his eyes flashing dangerously. "If I were-"

"You’d be dead," Valerius said, cutting him off with a sinister tone. "By my hand."

Urian laughed. "Yeah, right." He looked at Ash. "The arrogance of your Hunters truly knows no bounds. You should spend more time educating them about us, Ash."

Ash released Tabitha, then spoke to Urian. "I need you to go in and find out what’s going on. Are there any left who might still be loyal to you?"

The Daimon shrugged. "I can probably dredge up a flunky or two. But…" Urian’s gaze went to Tabitha. "If Des really is back, he’ll want to finish what he started. May the gods help you all if he has been reincarnated. It’s going to get bloody in New Orleans."

"Who would want to bring that monster back?" Tabitha asked.

"His children," Urian and Ash said simultaneously.

Tabitha still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But as she seethed, Urian’s face finally looked compassionate.

Haunted.

When he spoke, the arrogance was gone from his voice. "Trust me, it’s hard to let go of the loyalty you feel to a father who saved you from dying a horrible death at twenty-seven." Something in his tone said he spoke from experience.

"Is your loyalty to your father?" she asked.

Urian’s face turned to stone. "I would have done anything for my father until the day he killed me and took from me the only thing that meant more to me more than my life. Any bonds I felt for that man were shattered instantly." He looked at Ash. "I’ll see what I can find out."

A bright orange engulfed Urian an instant before he flashed out of her kitchen. Even so, his malevolence still clung to the air around them.

"Damn," Ash muttered. "Urian and his dramatics. I have got to remind him to lay off the pyrotechnics when he comes and goes."

"That is one angry man," Tabitha said.

"You’ve no idea, Tab," Ash said. "And he has every right to his hatred." He shook his head as if to clear it, then spoke to them quietly. "While Urian is busy, I need for the two of you to stay together and watch each other’s backs. Desiderius is the son of Dionysus, and Dionysus is still upset at me over what happened at Mardi Gras three years ago. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to help Desiderius, but I wouldn’t put anything past either one of them."

He looked meaningfully at Tabitha. "Even if Daddy doesn’t help him, Desiderius still has a lot of god powers that can be deadly, as you no doubt remember."

"Yeah," she said sarcastically as she recalled the way he and his Daimons had cut through her and her friends as if they were straw. "I remember."

He looked at Valerius. "Desiderius can manipulate people. Possess them, if you will. Tabitha is stubborn enough that the only thing that can possess her is the spirit of chocolate. We’re lucky there. But Marla could be swayed. Otto should be safe. But the rest of your staff… you might want to think about giving them some time off."

By the look on Valerius’s face, Tabitha could tell he’d rather be dead. "I can handle them."

"You have to sleep sometime. One of the servants could easily break into your bedroom and kill you. I don’t think any of them love you so much that they will hesitate over Desiderius’s orders the way Kyrian’s cook did."

Valerius’s nostrils flared.

Ash ignored the pain that Tabitha felt from Valerius. "I need you two together on this. I have to go warn Janice and Jean-Luc about what’s up." He turned to face her. "Tabitha, pack a bag and move in with Valerius for awhile."

"What about my store?"

"Have Marla watch over it for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, but-"

Ash’s features hardened. "Don’t argue with me, Tabitha. Desiderius is a major power with one hell of a grudge against you, your sister, and Kyrian. He’s not going to be playing with the three of you this time. He’s going to kill you."

Normally, she would argue with him just for spite. But she knew that tone of voice. No one argued with Ash for long. "Fine."

"You have your orders, General," Ash said sternly to Valerius.

Valerius gave him a rather sarcastic Roman salute.

Rolling his eyes, Ash flashed out of the room.

Now that they were alone, Valerius stared at her without speaking. Fury was burning so raw inside him that it actually hurt her.

"What?" she asked.

Without a word, he went to the picture on her buffet of Amanda’s wedding and pulled the Russell Crowe picture off Kyrian’s face.

He cursed. "I should have known when you told me her name was Amanda."

The look of repugnance on his face set her off. "Yeah, and my name is Tabitha, not Amanda. What has that got to do with anything?"

But he didn’t hear her. She knew it.

He stalked quietly from the room and went back upstairs. She jumped at the sound of her bedroom door slamming.

"Fine," she said out loud. "Be a baby. I don’t care."

Valerius sat motionless on the edge of the bed as his mind ranted over who Tabitha really was.

The twin of Kyrian’s wife had saved him. This was priceless, truly priceless. Here he’d spent the last two thousand years avoiding the Greek so as not to hurt him by reminding him what Valerius’s family had done to him, and now this…

He clenched his teeth as he felt for Kyrian’s betrayal. Valerius’s grandfather, an exact look-alike for Valerius, had seduced Kyrian’s beloved wife Theone centuries ago and used her to betray her husband. Kyrian hadn’t been captured on the battlefield as befitted a man of his stature. He’d been drugged by the hand of his wife in his own home as he tried to save her, and then handed over to his mortal enemy.

Valerius’s stomach churned as he remembered the weeks where his father and grandfather had tortured the Greek general for information and for fun. Remembered Kyrian’s screams.

The sight of the man lying bloody and defeated haunted him to this day. Kyrian had lain there with his eyes pain-filled and empty. Only once during those weeks had their gazes met and the look in Kyrian’s eyes was still seared into Valerius’s soul.

Worse, Valerius remembered his grandfather laughing at dinner the night Kyrian had been crucified after Kyrian’s father had tried to save him.

"You should have seen his face as his wife came in my arms right in front of him. I had his whore moaning and begging for my c**k as he watched me f**k her. Too bad he died before he could see her face when I threw her out."

Valerius had never understood that cruelty. It was enough to defeat an enemy, but to use his woman in front of him…

And now he was sleeping with the identical twin of Kyrian’s wife.

History did, in fact, repeat itself.

And Acheron had known and not told him. Why would the Atlantean insist on the two of them being together when he had to know what this would do to Kyrian? It didn’t make sense. Any more than Tabitha saving him when she herself knew Kyrian hated him.

Jupiter knew the man had every right to wish him dead. No wonder Selena had hated him so passionately. As Kyrian’s sister-in-law, it was a wonder she hadn’t been even more violent toward him.

The door opened.

Valerius tensed as he saw Tabitha come inside. She didn’t speak to him as she set about packing a small suitcase… of weapons.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"What Ash said to do. I’m going to move in with you."

"Why not go and stay with Kyrian and Amanda?"

"Because I trust Ash. If he says I should be with you, then I’m going."

"Will you be spitting on me as well?" The question was out before he could stop it.

Tabitha paused at his untoward question. "Pardon?"

A tic started in Valerius’s jaw. "It’s what your sister Selena does every time she sees me. I was wondering if I should make sure to keep a good lougie distance from you, too."

Tabitha would have laughed had he not been deadly serious. "Lougie. Interesting word for you. I wouldn’t have thought you knew that one."

"Yes, well, your sister and my latest Squire have tutored me well on the mighty lougie." He stood up and moved toward the door. "I shall wait outside until you’re through."

Tabitha kicked the door closed before he reached it. He turned with a supreme look of arrogance.

"What has crawled up your butt and died?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, his voice every bit as icy as his look.

"Look, there are a few things you need to know about me. One, I don’t take crap from anyone. Two, I don’t hold anything back. Whatever I feel about something or someone, I let it be known."

"I noticed."

She ignored his interruption. "And three, I am an empath. You can stand there and act all nonchalant as you want to, but at the end of the day, I feel what you do. So don’t act all secretive and cold when I know better. It just pisses me off."

His jaw slackened ever so slightly. "You’re an empath?"

"Yes. I know that Ash’s presence in the kitchen hurt you, but I don’t know why, and I felt your fury flare the minute you uncovered Kyrian’s face." She reached up and placed her hand to his cheek. "My mother always said that still waters run deep. The only time your actions have matched your emotions was last night when we were making love and when you came up here and slammed the bedroom door."

He tried to move away, but she refused to let him. "Deal with me, Val, don’t walk away."

"I don’t understand you," he said, his heart pounding. "I’m not used to anyone liking me, especially not people who have every right to hate me."

"Why should I hate you?"

"My family ruined your brother-in-law."

"And my Uncle Sally was a loan shark who died when one of his shakedowns shot him dead in the street. Every family tree has an ass**le in it. That’