"How?"
Artemis shrugged. "You can't. You have nothing I want or value, therefore you have nothing to barter with."
"Oh, come on, are you serious?"
"Deadly." Artemis flashed into vapor and vanished.
Ugh! Sunshine wanted to throttle the woman. How could she be so selfish?
"Artemis!" she called out before she could stop herself. "You seriously suck!"
Closing her eyes, Sunshine sighed. What was she to do now? There was no way that selfish heifer would ever let go of Talon's soul.
What were they going to do?
Amanda Devereaux-Hunter woke up at seven-thirty in the morning. She glanced absently at the clock and closed her eyes, then jerked to full alertness as the time dawned on her.
It was seven-thirty a.m. and her infant daughter, Marissa, hadn't awakened for her five o'clock feeding.
Not quite panicked, but definitely concerned about her baby, she got up and went to the nursery in the room beside hers.
As she neared the crib, her heart stopped.
It was empty.
At only three weeks of age, there was no chance Marissa had gotten up and walked away.
Oh God, it was Desiderius!
He'd come back for them!
Terror gripped her at the thought. Ever since she and Kyrian had defeated that monster, she'd had recurring nightmares of him returning from the dead for vengeance against them.
"Kyrian!" She raced back to the bed and woke her husband.
"What is it?" he asked grumpily.
"It's Marissa. She's gone."
Kyrian sat up, fully alert now. "Gone where?"
"She's not in her crib. I don't know where she is."
He sprang from bed and grabbed his pants from the floor. Without waiting for Kyrian, Amanda ran through the upstairs, her heart pounding.
Where could her baby be?
The thought of losing her child was her worst nightmare.
She dashed down the stairs to see if the front door was open. If maybe someone had come in and taken her..
As she started into the living room, Amanda pulled up short. Shocked to the core of her being, she focused her gaze on the most unbelievable sight she'd ever beheld.
Acheron lay on the leather couch with Marissa cuddled contentedly on top of his muscular chest, up under his chin.
A pack of diapers was on the coffin-shaped coffee table along with an empty bottle of formula.
Relief and disbelief flooded her simultaneously.