Jess shook his head. "I'm out of dynamite. You got any grenades?"
"Not on me."
Thanatos righted himself. "Say die, Dark-Hunter."
"Fine. Die, why don't you?" Zarek lowered his head and charged him. They locked arms and hit the ground.
Thanatos rose up from him and ripped open his shirt. From the way he moved his hands, Zarek could tell he was looking for the bow-and-arrow mark Jess had mentioned.
"Surprise, dickhead, Mama forgot to tell you a few things about me."
In the distance, Zarek heard the approach of an engine. He heard its drone over the sound of Jess urging Astrid to leave and Astrid's refusal while Sasha barked and pushed at her.
Suddenly, a snowmachine came flying up at the same time Zarek broke from Thanatos.
"Duck!"
Zarek didn't recognize the voice, and ordinarily, he wouldn't have obeyed, but what the hell? He was tired of getting his butt kicked by this Daimon.
He hit the ground and rolled out of the way while the dark green snowmachine flew over him. The man on it was dressed all in black with a black helmet. The newcomer skidded to a stop and pulled out a gun.
A bright flash of light cut through the darkness. The flare hit Thanatos in the center of his chest and knocked the Daimon flying.
Thanatos roared. "How dare you betray me! You're one of us."
The man slung a long leg over the snowmachine and reloaded his flare gun as he headed over to where Zarek was still lying on the ground.
"Yeah," he said bitterly. "You should have thought of that before you took out Bjorn." The newcomer fired his gun and knocked Thanatos back. "He was the only one of them I could ever stand."
The stranger reached down and helped Zarek to his feet. He pulled his helmet off and gave it to Zarek. "Get the woman and get out. Hurry."
The minute Zarek met the stranger's eyes, he knew him.
This was the only Dark-Hunter he'd ever known who was even more hated than he was. "Spawn?"
The blond Apollite Dark-Hunter nodded. "Go," he said, reloading. "I'm the only one who can hold him off, but I can't kill him. For Apollo's sake, someone get a hold of Acheron and tell him the Dayslayer is out."
Zarek ran for Astrid.
"No!" Thanatos roared.
Zarek saw the blast before it left Thanatos's hand. Acting on instinct, he cut back toward Spawn. The blast missed him, but hit Astrid's wolf.
The animal yelped, then changed from wolf to man, back to wolf.
Zarek drew up short as he realized Astrid's pet was a Katagari Were-Hunter.
Now why would a blind woman with a Katagari companion take in a rogue Dark-Hunter?
"Sasha?" Astrid called.
Jess ran to the Katagari to keep him covered while Zarek went to Astrid.
"Your were-buddy got zapped, princess."
Fear lined her brow. "Is he okay?"
He picked her up, and brought her over to Jess, then cursed as he realized Jess couldn't get both her and the wolf to safety. After an energy blast, the Katagaria tended to flash in and out of their forms for a while.