She smiled at that. "Yes, there is." She opened her hands and the water arced from the ball, back into her pool. "Now is the time to strike. The Elekti is being held by Artemis. He can't stop you. He won't even know when you attack."
Stryker flinched at the mention of the Elekti. Like the Abadonna, Stryker was forbidden to attack him.
He hated restrictions.
"We don't know where to attack," he told his mother. "We've been searching-"
"Take one of the ceredons. My pets can find them."
"I thought they were forbidden to leave this realm."
A cruel half-smile curved his mother's lips. "Artemis broke the rules; so shall I. Now go, m'gios, and do me proud."
Stryker nodded and turned about sharply. He took three steps before the Destroyer's voice made him pause.
"Remember, Strykerius, kill the heiress before the Elekti returns. You are not to engage him. Ever."
He stopped but didn't look back. "Why have I always been forbidden to touch him?"
"Ours is not to question why. Ours is but to live or to die."
He ground his teeth as she gave him the distorted human quote.
When she spoke again, the coldness in her tone only angered him more. "The answer to that is how much do you value your life, Strykerius? I have kept you close all these centuries and I have no desire to see you dead."
"The Elekti can't kill me. I am a god."
"And greater gods than you have fallen. Many of them to my wrath. Heed my words, boy. Heed them well."
Stryker continued on his way, pausing only long enough to unleash Kyklonas, whose name meant "tornado." Once unleashed, the ceredon was a deadly menace. Much like Stryker.
It was close to midnight when Wulf's phone rang again. Answering it, he heard a gruff Greek accent that he didn't recognize.
"This is Spawn, Viking. You rang a few hundred times while I was gone?"
Wulf ignored the man's aggravated tone. "Where have you been?"
Spawn's response came out as a low growling challenge. "Since when the hell do I answer to you? I don't even know you, hence it's none of your damned business."
Well, someone hadn't taken his personality pills for the night. "Look, I don't personally have a beef with you, Daimon-"
"I'm an Apollite, Viking. Big difference."
Yeah, right. "Sorry. Didn't mean to offend."
"To quote you, Viking, yeah, right."
Holy shit!
"And yes, I heard that too."
Wulf tamped down his anger and blanked out his mind. The last thing he wanted was to betray himself to a stranger who could be every bit as lethal as the Daimons after Cassandra. "If you know so much, then you should know why I was calling."
Silence answered him.
After a brief pause, Spawn laughed deep in his throat.
"You can't blank your thoughts from me, Wulf. There's no way to shield yourself from me so long as I have direct contact with you, such as the phone you're holding. But don't worry. I'm not your problem. I'm just surprised Apollo really does have an heiress to protect. Congratulations on the baby."