He snorted in derision. "Now that has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and believe me, I've heard a lot of bullshit in my existence. Trust me, it's a complete lie."
She duplicated his snort. "The problem is, I don't trust you. At all."
"But do you trust Kyros?"
He saw the answer in her dark eyes. No, she didn't. But it spoke a lot for her that she hadn't turned on her Dark-Hunter brother. She was still protecting Kyros. He could admire her for that.
"Look, Danger. Open your heart and listen with your feelings. What does your gut tell you to do?"
"Run for the hills with my Squire and let you guys duke it out for yourselves."
He laughed darkly at that.
Danger only wished she could laugh about it too, but it wasn't funny in the least to her. "However, I can't do that, can I? So I don't know who to believe and I'm woman enough to admit it. There are great gaping holes in both your stories. So the question I have to answer is, who is leaving out the 'I serve evil' part."
Alexion was amused. "Then let me put it to you this way. There is seldom black and white in our world. Sometimes the things we perceive as good have moments of profound evil, but profound evil will always tell you that it's always good. It never admits that it could, in any way, be evil."
Danger cocked her head. He sounded just like Father Anthony, her priest when she was a young woman in Paris. "So if I were to ask you if you are on the good side?"
"I am. But I won't hesitate to do whatever is necessary to protect the humans and Acheron. I'm here to save those of you who can be saved."
"And the rest?"
He looked away from her.
"You will kill us." It was a statement of fact.
His gaze met hers and this time his eyes were glowing a deep, vibrant green. They were unearthly, chilling, and in no way appeared human. "No. You damn yourselves by your own stupidity. I admit that I could not care less who lives or dies-that really isn't my concern. I'm here to do what must be done to protect the order of things."
"The order of what things?"
"Our existence. Our universe. Call it whatever you want, but in the end, those who turn on Acheron and who prey on humanity will die and yes, it will be by my hand."
This was unbelievable. He was admitting that he was, indeed, the one who would kill them all. "So you are our judge?"
His face was grim, sincere. "Judge, jury, and executioner."
Those words set fire to her temper as she moved to stand toe to toe with him. "What makes you so wise that you can blithely decide who lives and who dies? How do you know what's right?"
He scoffed. "All of you know what's right. You don't need me for that. On the night you became Dark-Hunters you pledged your eternal oath to serve Artemis and to combat the Daimons for her. Every one of you was given wealth, privilege, and servants. All you have to do in return for it is to protect the humans and stay alive. So long as you keep your mandate, you're left alone to find whatever happiness you can. You all know the rules. I'm just here to enforce them whenever one of your kind thinks that he or she is immune to them."
That did it. She didn't want anyone or anything this callous in her home. He truly didn't care who he killed. The Dark-Hunters were nothing to him. But her brethren were everything to her.
He would kill or die to protect Acheron and she would kill or die to protect her Dark-Hunter family.
It was that simple and that complicated.
"Then you can get out of my house."
He shook his head. "That's not how this works. When Acheron sends me in, he places me with a Dark-Hunter he would like to see saved. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way, but in theory, if you cooperate, you should survive this latest uprising. I use you as a friendly, trustworthy face to introduce me to the traitors so that I can decide who among them is worth saving."
"And if I refuse?"
"You die." There was no more emotion in his tone than there was in his face. He really didn't care if he killed her or not.
Danger glared at him as her heart pounded in rage. "Then I hope you come with an army because it's going to take more than you to kill me."
She lunged at him only to run into what appeared to be an invisible wall that surrounded him. She struck out at it, but it didn't budge.