She hated the way he referred to her as "little girl" all the time, and yet she couldn't seem to get ticked off about it. "You like being vague, don't you?"
"It was a choice of being a Dark-Hunter or a prophet. Personally I like the slash-and-kill stuff much more than prayers and the lotus position."
Acheron Parthenopaeus was a very odd individual.
Amanda fished her keys out and made her way back to her car. As she drove out of the driveway, toward the expressway, it dawned on her how strange that Acheron would send her out alone...
Why would he do that when Kyrian had asked him to watch over her?
Because Tabitha is far more likely to get into trouble walking the streets than you are going to Cliff's.
Oh yeah. That explained it. The only danger at Cliff's would be him boring her to death.
It didn't take her long to get there.
Amanda walked up to Cliff's first-floor apartment, then knocked on the door and waited for him to answer.
He opened the door. He was wearing a pair of Levi's and a yellow button-down shirt. "What?" he asked, looking over her shoulder. "No friend driving you this time?"
She glared at the jealousy she heard in his voice. How dare he! "What's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged and opened the door wider. "Nothing. I'm just upset tonight. Thanks for coming on such short notice."
Again she heard that voice in her head telling her to leave. Like a fool, she ignored it and stepped inside.
He shut and locked the door behind her.
"Well, well," a familiar voice said from the kitchen. "What have we here?"
Amanda froze as Desiderius stepped out of the shadows.
"You!" Amanda screamed and started for the door.
Cliff caught her. "Not so fast."
"How could you?" she asked Cliff. Then she turned to glare at Desiderius. "I don't understand why you're here. How?"
Desiderius sighed. "Please don't make this any more cliche than it has to be. It's bad enough that I had to stoop to such a primitive ploy to trap Kyrian. Now you expect me to dump my entire plan on you so you can escape and kill me?" He shook his head. "You know, I watch bad movies, too."
Suddenly, she felt Desiderius in her thoughts. Felt him goading and prying into her memories. Her head ached and swam as bizarre images played through her mind. Images of Desiderius embracing and caressing her. Of his breath on her neck.
Worse, Amanda felt the barriers of her mind collapsing under the pressure of his fierce mental onslaught.
"She is as you promised, Cliff." His voice came at such a faint distance. Like a vague whisper on the wind. "Her powers are pure, virtually untouched."
"I know. It's what drew me to her the first time I met her." Cliff smiled. "And with the information we gathered on how Kyrian fights from that night in the alley, we should have no trouble defeating him."
Desiderius paused as he looked upon the lesser beast. He considered humans to be the lowest of low. They were, after all, only food for the gods.
The only thing below them were mongrels such as Cliff. Half Apollite, half human, the sniveling coward had served his uses.
All in all, he should be grateful that Cliff's Apollite father had died before he could impart the real truth of the boy's heritage to him.
As for Cliff's human mother...
Well, she had been a tasty morsel.
Desiderius had always known having a mongrel for a pet would one day pay off. All the years of having to rear the vile creature didn't seem so repulsive now.