Thanatos paled.
"Yeah, you should be scared." He knocked him back. "It sucks when you're not the baddest thing out here, huh?"
Zarek picked him up and tossed him.
Thanatos rolled in the snow. He tried to get up and fell back.
Zarek stalked him.
It was time to put an end to this.
He placed his foot on Thanatos's back to hold him down and ripped open his coat and shirt to reveal the crescent sign.
So Ash hadn't lied.
"You can kill me, Dark-Hunter, but it won't take away the fact you should die for killing Dirce. She was innocent and you slaughtered her."
Zarek hesitated. "Dirce?"
"Do you not even remember her?" Thanatos tensed in rage as he twisted to look up at him accusingly. "She was only twenty years old when you cut her down."
Zarek's thoughts flashed to what Simi had shown him in her eyes...
The blond woman Thanatos had impaled on his sword.
"She was yours?"
"My wife, you bastard."
Zarek stared at Thanatos's mark.
He should kill him.
But he couldn't.
Both of them had been screwed by the same person. Artemis.
And it wasn't fair that he should kill Thanatos for wanting revenge.
Vengeance was something he understood all too well. Hell, he'd sold his own soul for it. How could he fault Thanatos for doing the same?
Zarek heard the sound of a snowmachine headed back toward him.
He knew without looking that it was Astrid. No doubt she'd turned around the instant he'd been distracted by the fight.
He used the powers Ash had given him to bind Thanatos to the ground.
The Daimon screamed for release.
He screamed for death.
Zarek knew the sound of both. Many nights he'd lain awake doing the same thing.
If he were merciful, he would kill him. But that wasn't his job.
He was a Dark-Hunter, and Thanatos...
Zarek would leave him for Acheron to deal with.