"Go ahead then. Kill me. Do you really think I give a damn?"
No, he didn't. Zarek had been born with a death wish. Both as a mortal man and as a Dark-Hunter. But Ash would never again kill a Dark-Hunter and send him into the agony of Shadedom. He knew firsthand the horrors of that existence.
"Shave your goatee, take the earring out, and keep your damn claws hidden. If you're smart, you'll stay away from the cops."
"Is that an order?"
Ash used his powers to lift Zarek from the floor and pin him roughly against the ceiling. "Stop pushing your luck, boy. I've had it with you."
Zarek actually laughed. "Have you ever thought of hiring yourself out to Disneyland? People would pay a fortune for this ride."
Ash growled louder, baring his fangs at the impudent ass.
It was seriously hard to intimidate a man who had nothing in life that meant anything to him. Dealing with Zarek made him feel like a parent with an out-of-control child.
Ash lowered him to the floor before he yielded to the temptation of strangling him.
Zarek narrowed his eyes as his feet connected with the floor. He walked nonchalantly to his duffel bag and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
He knew better than to taunt the Atlantean. Acheron could extinguish him in a heartbeat if he chose to. But then, Acheron still held his humanity. He actually had compassion for other people, which was a weakness Zarek had never possessed. No one had ever given a damn about him so why should he care about anyone else?
He lit his cigarette as Acheron turned to leave.
"Talon will patrol around Canal, so I want you to take the area from Jackson Square to Esplanade."
Zarek exhaled the smoke. "Anything else?"
"Behave, Z. For the love of Zeus, behave."
Zarek took a long drag on his cigarette as Acheron opened the door without touching it and strode out of his house.
He held his cigarette between his teeth and raked his hands through his tousled black hair.
Behave.
He could almost laugh at the order.
It wasn't his fault that trouble always came looking for him. But he'd never been one to dodge anything either. He'd learned a long time ago to take his hits and his pain.
He clenched his teeth as he remembered last night. He'd seen the Daimons on the street as they headed to Sunshine's loft. Heard them talking about how they intended to damage her. So he'd followed them, until he had a chance to fight them without anyone seeing them.
The next thing he knew, he had four bullet wounds in his side and a cop screaming at him to freeze.
At first, he'd intended to let them arrest him and then call Nick to bail him out, but when one of the cops had hit him across the back with his nightstick, all good intentions had gone straight to hell.
His days as a whipping boy were over.
No one was ever going to touch him again.
Sunshine sat outside Talon's cabin, working on the paintings Cameron Scott had commissioned from her. While Talon slept inside, she'd been out here for hours, trying to figure out why she was still here with him in his swamp.
Why she had come out here with him last night when she should have just gone over to her brother's.
Her revelation about their past life together had really freaked her out.
She had been his passive, June Cleaver wife...
Sunshine shivered. She didn't want to be anyone's wife.