"Well, gee, what was I supposed to do?" Artemis shot back. "Hook up with Mr. All-powerful God-killer or get myself a Mardi Gras float and hang out with him?" She pointed to Camulus, who looked extremely offended by her comment. "You're such a moron," she said to her brother. "No wonder you're the patron god of drunken frat boys."
"Excuse me," Talon snapped at them. "Could you gods focus for a sec? We have a bit of a situation here."
"Oh, shut up," Dionysus snapped. "I knew I should have backed up when I ran you over."
Talon's jaw went slack. "That was you who hit me with the float?"
"Yes."
"Damn, boy," Camulus said to Dionysus. "You've fallen a long way down. Yesterday Greek god... today incompetent float driver. Sheez, and I hooked up with you? What was I thinking? Artemis is right, what kind of idiot picks a float to mow a guy down so that he can go home with his dead wife? You're lucky you didn't kill him then and blow the entire plan."
"Hey, have you ever tried to drive one of those things? It's not exactly easy. Besides, he's a Dark-Hunter. I knew it wouldn't kill him. I just needed something that would hurt him enough to make her take him home. Need I remind you that it did work?"
Artemis growled at them. "You're so pathetic. I can't believe we share a common gene between us."
Shooting a nasty glare at her brother, Artemis struggled against the invisible force that held them down. Like the rest of them, she couldn't reach Ash.
"Acheron!" she called. "Can you hear me?"
Disembodied laughter filled the room.
Ash leaned his head forward and more lightning flowed through him. The dragonlike beast tightened its grip around him and hissed a fiery breath at the goddess.
Artemis tried to climb up his leg, but she was forced back, away from him.
"You know, folks," Camulus shouted. "The idea was to kill Acheron, free Apollymi, and reclaim our god status. Not piss him off and end the world. Personally, I don't want to be ruler of nothing. But if someone doesn't stop this guy, that chant he's making is going to undo life as we know it and un-create the world."
"What are we going to do?" Sunshine asked Talon.
Only one thing came to his mind.
He had to bring Acheron to his senses.
Talon kissed her lips, then moved away from her. He hadn't gone through death to get her back, only to lose her now.
He summoned his remaining powers and allowed them to cocoon him. He no longer had his Dark-Hunter immortality, but he did retain all the psychic powers that had been given to him.
Hopefully they would be enough.
He rose slowly to his feet.
A lightning bolt came at him.
Talon deflected it. He moved slowly through the maelstrom until he reached Ash's side. So long as he stayed calm, he seemed to be shielded from Ash's wrath.
"Let it go, T-Rex."
Ash spoke to him in a language he didn't understand.
"He says to back off or die," Styxx translated. "He's summoning the Destroyer."
"I can't let you do that," Talon said.
The laughter echoed again.
Wanting to distract Acheron from what he was chanting, and not knowing anything else to try, Talon rushed him.
He caught Ash about the middle and knocked him to the floor. The dragon arched up, shrieking.