Keller continued to ramble on as he led the way into a medium-sized bedroom that had an adjoining bathroom. Alexion cocked his head as he felt something strange go through him. It was cold, almost sinister, and he couldn't place it.
If he didn't know better, he'd think it was...
"Acheron?" He sent the mental call out through the dimensions.
His boss didn't answer him.
Then as soon as the sensation had come, it was gone.
How strange...
Danger didn't know what to believe as she headed home from Aberdeen to Tupelo. She'd stayed too long with Kyros and her powers had waned a lot more than she should have allowed. She felt weak and sick, and in truth, she wanted nothing more than to lie down for a while and give herself time to recover.
Most of all, she needed time to think through everything they had told her tonight. To be honest, Stryker had made some rather convincing arguments.
"You have been trained that all Daimons are evil and out to prey on humans. Well, newsflash, we're not the ones who are in the wrong. Acheron is. He was cast out of our home realm, Kalosis, because even our mother could no longer abide his rampant killing. It's why he uses you to kill us now. He wants revenge on us.
"Your powers wane when you're together because Acheron took your souls and has devoured them. That's why the first Dark-Hunters were allowed to stay together. In the beginning, their souls weren't dead. He actually did have them. But after Acheron ate the souls of Kyros and Callabrax... then they were like the rest of you and could no longer be together without it draining their powers."
Still, that hadn't made sense to her.
"Whether you like it or not, little girl, your souls are dead. That's why you can't be in a room with another soulless being. The energy that sustains you, that keeps you animated, begins to clash with the energy of the other soulless being. Why do you think you don't lose your powers around a Daimon? We have a soul inside us, and it allows us to be together without harm. That's why you can be with Acheron and not feel the drain and why Acheron can go into a cemetery and not be possessed. He, unlike you, has a stolen soul inside him."
Danger had still been skeptical. "That doesn't make sense. What about Kyrian and the other Dark-Hunters who have gotten their souls back?"
Stryker's answer had been automatic. "They didn't get their souls back, they got someone else's."
That had been the most ludicrous thought of all. "Yeah, right. We all know that anytime a soul enters a body that it's not meant for, the soul withers and dies in a matter of weeks. Kyrian has had his soul back for years now."
Stryker had laughed evilly at that. "That's not true if the soul comes from an unborn baby. That's why Daimons covet pregnant women so much. If you take the soul of the unborn, it can sustain you until the body dies."
Those words had left her cold. To do such a thing was an abomination.
She still wasn't sure if it was possible.
"How could Acheron get such a soul?" she'd asked.
"Where do you think the medallions come from that he uses to restore a Dark-Hunter to his or her previous human state? Our mother is the keeper of souls." He had looked at Kyros. "The Greek word for 'Destroyer' is the Atlantean word for 'soul'. Your people made the assumption that Apollymi was a god of destruction, but in truth, she is a guardian of souls. My brother uses a demon to steal those souls from her whenever he needs one. He then returns the souls to a handful of you every so often so that the rest of you will continue to obey him. He knows you have to have hope in order to not turn on him and become disgusted with your existence and duties. It's why you must go to him whenever you want to be free. He does this whole 'I have to petition Artemis' bullshit when in truth what he has to do is break into our mother's temple and steal a new soul. Trust me, there is no Artemis to petition."
It all sounded so preposterous.
Truth is stranger than fiction...
That was true enough, and she couldn't get past the eyes. No one had those mystical, swirling silver eyes except for Acheron... and Stryker. They both had black hair, which Stryker had turned blond before her eyes.
"Why do you think you never see Acheron with blond hair? He's afraid that you'll see it and then you'll know him for the Daimon that he is."
Danger turned her car down the street to head home. Everything she had ever believed about the Dark-Hunter world and her place in it was now uncertain. She hated Kyros for that. As a human, she'd allowed one man to lie to her and destroy everything she held dear.
Had she allowed another man to do the same thing?
Just who could she trust? Who wasn't lying to her?
"Why didn't you have Stryker try to kill me for betraying you?" she'd asked Kyros after he told her that they knew she had called Acheron to report his questionable activities with the Daimons.
He'd laughed at her. "I wanted you to tell him. That's why I had my Squire tell your Squire about my going Rogue. Trust me, Danger," Kyros had said. "Acheron won't come here and face us himself. He'll be too afraid to."
Stryker had agreed. "He's right. You called Acheron because you were concerned about the fact that you'd heard Kyros was working with Daimons and not killing them. Now Acheron will send in his pawn to supposedly 'investigate.' The blond man will be someone claiming to be Acheron's Squire, even though everyone knows Acheron doesn't have one. Instead of a Squire, he's Acheron's assassin. You'll know him instantly. He'll show up wearing a white coat."