Wulf cocked a brow at that. "Lucy," he said in a mock Ricky Ricardo accent, "you got some 'splaining to do."
Ash grunted. "Stryker isn't stupid. Your idea of going in with a plastic baby, while admirable, would never work. Stryker would smell the plastic in an instant." He turned the Snugli sack around to face Wulf so that he could see the tiny, dark-haired infant it contained. "So I give you a real baby."
"What if it gets hurt?"
The baby sneezed.
Wulf jumped as fire shot out of its nostrils and almost singed his leg.
"Excuse me," the baby said in a singsongy voice. "I almost made Dark-Hunter barbecue, which would be really sad 'cause I ain't got no barbecue sauce with me." The baby leaned its head back to look up at Ash. "You know fried Dark-Hunter isn't good plain. What you need-"
"Sim," Ash said in a warning tone under his breath, cutting the baby off.
The baby looked up at him. "Oh, I forgot, akri. Sorry. Goo, ga, goo."
Wulf rubbed his forehead. "What is that?"
"He told you, Simi's his baby... demon."
All five of them turned at the deep, sinister voice that was laced with a heavy Greek accent. Another man stepped out of the shadows. He was almost as tall as Acheron with black hair and vibrant blue eyes.
Ash arched a brow. "You came after all, Z. Glad you made the party."
Zarek snorted. "What the hell? I didn't have anything better to do. Figured I might as well come kick ass and take names. Not that I really give a damn about their names. I'm just in it for the bloodlust."
"So you're Zarek," Wulf said, eyeing the notorious ex-Dark-Hunter who had once been exiled to Fairbanks, Alaska.
His nasty attitude not only bled from every pore, but was apparent from the lip he kept perpetually curled. Billy Idol and Elvis had nothing on this man.
"Yeah," Zarek said, sneering even more. "And I'm freezing, so can we rush this little get-together so I can kill some assholes and get back to the beach where I belong?"
"If you hate it here so much," Talon asked, "why did you agree to come?"
In a subtle gesture of flipping Talon off, Zarek scratched his eyebrow with his middle finger, which was covered with a long, sharp metallic claw. "Astrid wants me to make friends. I don't know why. Some weird woman thing. She's trying to make me more sociable."
Ash let out a rare laugh at that.
Zarek passed an equally amused, knowing look at Acheron. "I don't want to hear it from you, O Great Ash. You're the one who got me into this in the first place." Then Zarek did the most surprising thing of all; he bent down and chucked the baby on the chin. "How you doing, little Simi?"
The baby jumped happily up and down in the harness. "Fine. You got any more frozen beans for me? I miss being in Alaska with you. It was fun."
"No time for food, Sim," Ash answered.
The baby blew him a raspberry. "Can I eat the Daimons then?"
"If you can catch them," Ash promised, making Wulf wonder what the man knew about the Daimons that he wasn't sharing.
"What's that mean?" Zarek asked for him. "You being vague again?"
Ash looked at him archly. "Always."
Zarek let out a sound of disgust. "Personally, I think we should get together and beat the hell out of you until you come clean."
Kyrian scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You know-"
"Don't even go there," Acheron said irritably. He turned to Wulf. "Go get your weapons. You have an appointment to keep."
Wulf paused by Ash's side. "Thanks for coming."