"Today. Tuesday."
Ash shook his head. "It's Saturday, Nick. You've been in a coma for three and a half days." He used his powers to pick up Nick's hand and rub it against the whiskers on his cheeks that confirmed what Ash was telling him.
That finally took away some of his bluster. "What?" Then he stiffened. "Quit playing with my hand, you friggin' perv."
Ash released him and manifested a blanket over him. "Dude, I'm not the one standing with my schlong hanging out. Have some dignity."
Nick flipped him off before he wrapped the blanket around his waist.
Ash ignored his hatred. "Just so you know, Gautier, I have a couple of Dark-Hunters and Were-Hunters who want a piece of your ass because they think you attacked Sanctuary."
Nick gaped. "I haven't been near it since the wolves attacked."
"I know. I'm just updating you on what's going on since you were kind enough to loan your body to someone who's been masquerading as you and turning your protectors against you."
Nick cursed, then glanced at Artemis as if remembering her presence. He actually blushed before he returned to glaring at Ash. "I'm going to kill Stryker."
"Stay away from him. You haven't mastered enough of your powers yet to even think about taking him on. Trust me. All you'd do right now is make him a nice mincemeat pie."
Nick fell silent before he said something to betray himself. He had more abilities than Acheron knew about and for some reason they seemed to be growing exponentially. He wasn't the weak-kneed neophyte. But Ash didn't need to know that.
Not yet.
Nick flinched as a peculiar surge went through him. He'd been getting them a lot lately and he didn't know why. Sharp and intense, they took his breath. Another one shot up his spine, driving him to his knees.
"Nicky?" Artemis ran to his side.
Nick held her back as weird images danced in his head. He saw things from his past rearrange.... People he didn't know and others who'd died...
What the...?
"You all right?" Ash asked.
No, but he wasn't about to admit that to Ash. No one would ever again know his weaknesses. What was going on was his business. Ash had already betrayed him once. He wasn't about to give him another chance to damage his life, such as it was.
And in his head, he heard the voices that had been getting louder lately. Voices that wanted him to hurt the people around him. They were so seductive and with them came a power so fierce it was hard to resist.
He felt his eyes turning red.
There was a raw, primordial power coming and it was out for blood. The only question was, whose?
"Mama?"
Sam jerked awake at the sound of a very small voice that was just learning to speak. She lay in bed, wondering if she'd dreamed it.
She hadn't.
"Shh, munchkin, not so loud. We have guests." Kerryna kept talking in that sweet octave mothers reserved for their children as she walked out of hearing range.
Sam cursed under her breath. If she heard or saw one more child...
It seemed like the gods were taking pleasure in punishing her lately. And she wanted to weep as her grief choked her. Why couldn't she have raised her own children? Seen them grow and held them all the days of her life? That had been the plan. She and Ioel, growing old together...
Damn you, gods.
No. She had her sister to blame for their loss and it changed nothing. The pain was still there and it was raw and bleeding.
Suck it up, Amazon. You're a Dark-Hunter. Mother to the entire human race she protected. She saved their lives even while she'd been unable to save the lives of her own family. The irony of that had haunted her for centuries. And it was what had given her the strength to tear out her sister's throat even while the petty bitch had begged her for mercy.