"Have a nice life, Cupcake," he said to her.
"Cupcake?" Amanda asked in an offended tone.
He smiled. "After the 'buff stud in black leather' remark, I figured I owed you one." He patted her hand, then reluctantly removed it from his arm. "It's almost eight, you better go call your sister."
Kyrian let go of her hand and instantly felt the vacancy.
He exchanged a knowing look with Julian. This would be the last time they saw each other and they both knew it. "Good-bye, adelfos."
"Good-bye, little brother," Julian said.
Kyrian turned around, opened the door, and made his solitary way to his car.
Once inside, he couldn't resist looking back. Though he couldn't see Amanda, he could feel her on the other side of the door, staring after him.
He couldn't remember the last time anyone had been sorry to see him go. Nor could he recall ever feeling this insane need to keep a woman with him at any cost.
After Kyrian left, Amanda called Tabitha and reassured her she was safe, then took a quick shower and borrowed a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt from Grace. She sat on the couch with a plate of spaghetti while Grace and the babies retired for the night.
Julian came from the kitchen and handed her a Coke, then took a seat in the armchair. "All right," he said. "Where shall I begin?"
She didn't even have to think about it. "The beginning. I want to know exactly what Dark-Hunters and Daimons are. Where did the Apollites come from? And exactly how are the three of them related?"
Julian laughed. "You cut right to the chase, don't you?" He turned his glass of iced tea around in his hands as he appeared to think about how best to answer her question. "At times like this, I wish Homer's Kynigostaia had survived."
"Cog-no-whatever that word is, is what?"
He laughed again, then took a drink of tea. "It was the record of the birth of the Kynigstosi, the Dark-Hunters, and could have answered most questions you have about them. It detailed the rise of the two races that once held dominion over the earth. The humans and Apollites."
Amanda nodded. "Okay, I know where humans come from, what about the Apollites?"
"Aeons ago, Apollo and Zeus were walking through Thebes when all of a sudden Zeus declared the greatness of the human race. He called humans the 'earthly pinnacle of perfection.' Apollo scoffed and said there was a lot of improving to be done. He boasted that he could easily create a superior race. Zeus told him to prove it. So Apollo found a nymph who agreed to bear his children.
"In three days the first four Apollites were born. Three days after that, those children grew into adulthood, and three days later, they were ready to be rulers of the earth."
Amanda wiped her lips with her napkin. "So the Apollites are the children of Apollo. Gotcha. Now what makes some of them Daimons?"
"Would you wait? I'm the one telling this story," Julian said patiently in the voice she was sure he reserved for his college students. "Because the Apollites were so superior to humans in intellect, beauty, and strength, Zeus banished them to the island of Atlantis where he hoped they would stay peacefully. I don't know if you've ever read Plato's Dialogues-"
"No offense, but I spent my entire college career avoiding liberal arts courses."
Julian smiled. "Anyway, most of what Plato wrote about Atlantis is true. They were an aggressive race who wanted to dominate the earth, and ultimately Olympus, as well. Apollo didn't mind since he would become the supreme god should they win."
Amanda knew where this was headed. "I'll bet that made old Zeus happy."
"He was delighted," Julian said sarcastically. "But not half so much as the poor Greeks who were being hammered by the Apollites. Fed up with it, they realized they were fighting a lost cause. So they devised a scheme to seduce Apollo to their side. They chose the most beautiful woman ever born to them, Ryssa, to be his divine mistress."
"More beautiful than Helen of Troy?"
"This was a long time before Helen, and yes, accounts claimed she was by far the most beautiful woman ever born. Anyway, Apollo, being Apollo, couldn't resist her. He fell in love with her and she ultimately bore him a son. When the Apollite queen heard of this, she became enraged and sent out a team of assassins to kill mother and child. The queen told her men to make it appear as if a wild animal had killed them so that Apollo wouldn't retaliate against the Apollites."
Amanda whistled low as she guessed what happened after that. "Apollo found out."
"Yes, he did, and it got ugly. You see, Apollo is also the god of plagues. He destroyed Atlantis and would have destroyed every single Apollite as well had Artemis not stopped him."
"Why did she do that?"
"Because the Apollites are part of his flesh and blood. To destroy them would be to destroy him and the world as we know it."