That made no sense to her whatsoever. Then again, her grandmother controlled an entire army of Daimons and said nothing of the lives and souls they took in order to stay alive. Of course their leader, Stryker, was now plotting her death, but that was another issue.
It took Kat a minute to realize why Sin's tolerance bothered her so. It was because they were here on the same plane as the humans. Stryker and his army had to come to this plane to feed and she'd never witnessed it. Somehow it seemed more wrong to harbor Daimons right in the heart of humanity.
"I thought you didn't trust anyone," she said.
"I never said I trusted Damien at my back or with my life. Only my money."
"And yet you're trusting me at your back?"
"Not completely. You are to stay by my side so I can watch you. Don't think for one minute that I've forgotten you're the face and voice of the one woman I want to kill more than any other."
It really was too much to hope he could get past that. But then if someone had taken her godhood, she'd be a little upset herself. "Understood. So what's the game plan other than to avoid Demon and my mother?"
"We have to find the Hayar Bedr."
Kat frowned at the unfamiliar term. "That would be what?"
"The Forsaken Moon."
"And would it be animal, vegetable, or mineral?"
"Animal. Definitely animal."
Why did that surprise her? Oh wait, 'cause it was completely normal to refer to an animal as a forsaken moon. Yeah... "Really? What kind of animal would be called the Forsaken Moon?"
"My twin brother."
Kat was stunned by the revelation. That was something she hadn't seen inside him. "There are two of you?"
His features darkened. "In a manner of speaking. Originally, there were three of us born to a human mother. She was a peasant my father had taken a fancy to and impregnated. We were no more than children when the prophecy came down that said we would destroy the pantheon. In anger, my father killed the eldest triplet; then he came for me and Zakar. Even though I was only ten, I was the stronger, so I hid Zakar in the dream realm and fought my father for the right to live. I told him I'd already taken care of my brother and absorbed his powers."
"But you hadn't."
"No, but the idea that I had possessed the power to kill my own brother scared my father enough to give him pause. Even though he still wanted me dead, he decided that since the prophecy had foretold the three of us would cause the destruction, one of us should be all right to live. So I took my place in their pantheon and Zakar stayed hidden for the most part. The humans knew him, but any time they made mention of him I told my father I was the one in their dreams using my brother's name."
"And he believed you?"
He gave her a wicked grin. "You don't screw with a fertility god if you want to stay vigorous."
True. Fertility gods had a way with a whammy that could ruin most men's nights.
And their egos forever.
"So where's your brother now?" Kat asked.
Sin let out a tired breath as he left her to go to his bar and pour himself a drink of whisky. "I have no idea. The last time I saw him was after Artemis had drained my powers and left me for dead. Zakar helped free me from her net, but he didn't stay around long after that. He told me there was something he had to take care of and then he vanished."
"And you have no idea where he went?"
He knocked back the drink with one gulp and poured another glassful. "None. I've tried to summon him. Call him, you name it. Nothing. Not a postcard or whisper for thousands of years. Part of me wonders if he's not dead."
"If he is, where does that leave us?"
"Basically screwed over raw." He tossed back another drink. "It was his blood we used to bind the gallu the last time. Which means we need his blood to bind them again."
"If you're twins, why can't we just use your blood to rebind them?"
He offered her a drink, but she declined with a shake of her head.