Side by side with Valerius, she fought the Daimons while Kyrian, Julian, and Talon joined the fight. With the five of them, it didn't take any time at all to finish the Daimons off. In truth, it was a colorful display as one by one the Daimons disintegrated.
Except for the one who had struck her. The ghost wrapped itself around that particular Daimon and the two of them appeared to evaporate into nothing. Tabitha frowned at the peculiar sight. Until she heard Kyrian's resonant curse. One moment Valerius was beside her, the next he was being slammed face-first into the wall.
"You bastard!" Kyrian snarled as he pummeled him. Valerius ducked the blows and whirled to the side. He slammed Kyrian into the wall and would have pinned him had Julian not grabbed him from behind.
The next thing she knew, Julian was hitting Valerius, too. Without thinking, Tabitha rushed Julian, knocking him back. She put herself between the Roman and the two Greeks.
"Get out of my way, Tabitha," Kyrian said as he glared his hatred at Valerius. "I don't want Amanda pissed at me because I hurt you for being stupid."
"And I don't want Amanda pissed at me because I permanently maimed you for being an idiot."
"This isn't a game, Tabitha," Julian said sternly. In his human life, Julian had been the Greek general who had commanded Kyrian. Unfortunately, he'd run afoul of the gods, who had cursed him into a book to be a sex slave to whatever woman summoned him out.
Selena's best friend Grace Alexander had set the half-god free.
Since then, Julian had often joined ranks with the Dark-Hunters to fight the Daimons, and now he was joining ranks with Kyrian to kill Valerius.
It was something she would never allow.
She held her arms out to keep them back. "No, it isn't."
"It's all right, Tabitha," Valerius said from behind her. "This is a confrontation that's been a long time coming."
"Talon," Tabitha said, glancing over to the tall blond Celt who was standing behind his Greek friends. As always, Talon was dressed like a biker in a black motorcycle jacket, T-shirt, and leather pants. His hair was cut short except for two thin braids that hung from his left temple. "Are you going to help me?"
Talon grimaced. "Unfortunately, yes." He moved to stand with her.
"Celt-" Kyrian snarled.
His face determined, Talon crossed his arms over his chest.
"Look," Tabitha said between clenched teeth. "We have bigger problems right now than you two hating Valerius and his family."
"Like what?" Kyrian asked.
Tabitha pointed to the ground where Ash still lay.
Kyrian's face went pale as his gaze focused on Ash's body. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Tabitha said. "One of the Daimons did that to him and we need to get him to safety."
Kyrian passed a grudging, angry look at Valerius. "We're not through."
Valerius said nothing as he moved toward Ash.
When he started to lift Ash up, Kyrian shoved him back. "Get your filthy hands off him, Roman. We don't need your help. We take care of our own."
"Valerius happens to be the only Dark-Hunter here," Tabitha snapped at her brother-in-law. "He has more right to help Ash-"
"Greeks don't want or need Roman help," Julian said as he brushed roughly past Valerius.
Tabitha felt Valerius's anger, his pain, but most of all, she felt shame from him.
Why?
"Val?"
As soon as it was out of her mouth, Tabitha realized she'd just made a strategic mistake. Kyrian let out a vulgar curse. "Oh, don't tell me you've taken up with him. Shit, Tabitha, I thought even you had more sense than that."