He looked less than pleased as he narrowed those baby blues on Ash. "Don't take that tone of voice with me, Ash. I don't care who you are, I don't like it."
"Like it or not, I need to know what the Spathis are up to. More precisely, I need to know if Desiderius is back on the playing field."
Horror filled her.
Urian curled his lip. "Why are you worried about him? Des is a punk."
"Desiderius is dead," Tabitha said emphatically. "Kyrian killed him."
Urian scoffed. "Yeah, and I'm the Easter Bunny-see my fluffy tail? You don't just kill a Spathi, little girl. All you do is take him out of commission for awhile."
"Bullshit!" Tabitha snarled.
"No, Tabitha," Ash said, gentling his voice. "Desiderius's essence was released. But if one of his brethren or children wanted to bring him back, they could. It's not easy to do, but it is possible."
She was aghast that Ash had kept something this important from them. "Why didn't you ever tell us this?"
"Because I was hoping it wouldn't happen."
"Hoping?" Tabitha shrieked. "Please tell me you weren't pinning my sister's life and Kyrian's on a hope."
Ash didn't answer.
Meanwhile the true significance of the last few days settled fully on her shoulders. "So those really were Spathis I fought the night I met Valerius."
Urian snorted. "Trust me, little girl, you must have faced the neophytes. Had those been true Spathis, you'd both be dead now."
His arrogance was seriously starting to piss her off. Just who was this jerk anyway? "How do you know so much about them, Dr. Intellect?"
"I used to be one."
Her fury breaking, Tabitha rushed him.
Ash caught her and pulled her back. He lifted her up off the floor. Tabitha kicked and cursed as she struggled to reach Urian, who watched her with a smirk.
"Stop it, Tabby," Ash breathed in her ear. "Urian is on our side now. Believe me, he has paid for his allegiance to the other side more than you will ever know."
Yeah, right.
"How could you bring a Daimon into my house after what they did to me? To my family?" she demanded.
"Oh, I'm not a Daimon anymore, little girl," Urian said, his eyes flashing dangerously. "If I were-"
"You'd be dead," Valerius said, cutting him off with a sinister tone. "By my hand."
Urian laughed. "Yeah, right." He looked at Ash. "The arrogance of your Hunters truly knows no bounds. You should spend more time educating them about us, Ash."
Ash released Tabitha, then spoke to Urian. "I need you to go in and find out what's going on. Are there any left who might still be loyal to you?"
The Daimon shrugged. "I can probably dredge up a flunky or two. But..." Urian's gaze went to Tabitha. "If Des really is back, he'll want to finish what he started. May the gods help you all if he has been reincarnated. It's going to get bloody in New Orleans."
"Who would want to bring that monster back?" Tabitha asked.
"His children," Urian and Ash said simultaneously.
Tabitha still couldn't believe what she was hearing. But as she seethed, Urian's face finally looked compassionate.
Haunted.