His expression was cold. "I appreciate the thought, but it doesn't really change anything, does it?" He walked over to Kytara and closed her eyes, then he covered her with a blanket. "You should probably take her body home to Olympus. It's the least we can do."
Kat was confused. "We don't have to burn her?"
He shook his head. "No. They just killed her. There's no bite marks on her that I could see. Guess they didn't want to convert her over."
Kat couldn't imagine that, since Kessar and crew seemed intent on converting as many people as they could. Surely a dream god would have been a big boon for them. But then nothing the demon did made sense.
How had all this gotten so out of hand?
Sighing, she frowned as she saw Simi and Xirena changing back into their more human forms. "Why didn't you call for Simi and Xirena when you saw them?"
He gave her a cold glare. "Well gee, since I popped in here in the middle of a fight and I was trying to save my brother and had hoped Kytara was only wounded and not dead, I really didn't think about them. Sorry I was so self-absorbed in staying alive that I forgot about the demons down the hall."
Kat had to bite back an equally caustic retort. He was hurting and she knew it. This wasn't easy on either one of them, and more sarcasm wouldn't accomplish anything more than to further alienate him from her. "Are our powers gone for good?"
"No. Not unless they have a conduit"-he gave her a meaningful sneer-"to drain you. Our powers will be back. Personally I think the prick is just playing with us."
Kat didn't believe that. "No, he was honestly afraid of Simi and Xirena."
"That's because they can rip his heart out and, as we learned, they're immune to the Tablet."
"Which gives us an advantage."
"As long as their numbers are small, yes. But the minute they open the doorway and let the whole demon clan out to party, our demons are dead."
Xirena's eyes widened. "Um, I don't like dead. Dead is bad."
Simi nodded in agreement. "Akri would be really sad if his Simi died. The Simi wouldn't be happy about it, either."
"And neither would I," Kat assured them. "Don't worry. We won't let them eat you."
Sin folded up the couch. By his demeanor, she could tell he was trying to think of a solution. Finally, he met her gaze. "Any chance Grandma will let more demons out of her sight?"
"I don't know. Too many Charontes out of Kalosis without Apollymi here to rein them in would be like too many gallu set free. I think we'd just be changing the face of human annihilation."
"Of course it would," Sin growled. "Now they have the Moon, they have the Tablet that I found for them, and we have no powers so long as they hold it. If we attack, they drain us. I should just shoot myself and end my suffering before they turn me into one of them."
Kat rolled her eyes at his melodramatic tirade. "Don't go Socrates yet. It's not over until they let loose the Dimme, right?"
He snorted. "Excuse me if I'm not feeling really upbeat and hopeful at the moment. After all, the one person I thought I could trust is the one who fucked me the hardest."
Kat had to clench her hand to keep from slapping him. Her first instinct was to give tit for tat. But as she opened her mouth to let him have it, she remembered Acheron's words.
"But I do know this, Katra. The first betrayal, even as severe as it was, could have been forgiven had your mother just apologized and meant it. Had she come to me and promised that she'd never hurt me again, I would have laid my life down for her. Instead she let her pride get in the way. She was more focused on punishing me for her imagined embarrassment than she was on the future we could have had together."
Those words quelled her tongue. She didn't want to make the same mistake her mother had made. She'd wronged Sin and they both knew it.
Taking a deep breath for patience, she turned toward Simi. "Simi?" she said quietly. "Will you please take Kytara's body home to Olympus? Give her to M'Adoc."
Simi nodded as she came forward to hug her. "Don't be so sad, akra-Kat. We'll eat all them gallu demons and make it all right. You'll see."
Kat smiled at the two demons. "I know you will, Simi. Thank you."
As Simi went to pick up Kytara from the floor, Xirena looked a bit awkward, as if she wasn't sure what she should do. "I'll wait in our room." Xirena vanished an instant before Simi did.
Sin headed for the bar to pour himself a drink. "You might as well join them. No need in staying around here."
Kat followed him behind the counter. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."