At least that's what he thought she said. Her words and pronunciation were different from the Charonte that Simi spoke. It was like another dialect.
Danger started for her.
"No!" he snapped. He had to understand this. How could this demon look so much like Acheron's?
"Who are you?" he asked her.
She cocked her head and glared at him with absolute hatred. Her white fangs flashed against her much darker skin tone. "I am death and destruction and I am here to claim your life, worm."
Danger actually growled at him. "Alexion..."
"Please, Danger, trust me."
The words were barely out of his mouth before the demon grabbed him by the throat and slung him to the ground.
"Protula akri gonatizum, vlaza!"
The demon curled her lip at him. "You are no god to command me, servant. Xirena bows before no one."
He would have made a comment to that, but the grip on his throat made it impossible to speak. She tore open his shirt as if she were about to rip his heart out.
"I think I need to interfere, Alexion," Danger said, inching closer to them. "From where I'm standing, you're losing big time."
"No!" he choked out, afraid the demon would tear her apart if she tried anything.
The demon pulled a dagger from her waist. Alexion struggled with all his might. It was what he feared most-a dagger from the Destroyer.
That would kill him.
But in spite of his struggling, he couldn't get her to budge off him or her grip to loosen even a tiny bit.
Until her eyes fell to his shoulder where he bore Acheron's mark.
Her eyes flashed red. She let go of his throat to pull the fabric back so that she could study the mark more closely.
Still he couldn't get her off him.
She cocked her head as she studied the tattoo intently. "You serve the one who is cursed?"
"Yes."
She looked even more puzzled by that. "You called me Simi in a child's language. Do you know my Simi?"
Alexion drew deep, ragged breaths in through his bruised esophagus. It burned and ached. He wasn't sure if the pain would ever cease.
"Simi's mother is dead. We were told all the Charontes were gone. Who the hell are you?"
Her gaze narrowed threateningly at him, as if she were offended that he didn't know of her. "I am Xirena, the eldest hatchling of Xiamara and Pistriphe-the supreme guardians of the hall of the gods. I was the protector of my mother's simi... her baby. My simi was taken from me by the bitch-goddess Apollymi, after my mother's death, to be a gift for the cursed god. Do you know where my simi is?"
Alexion couldn't think as he stared up at the demon on his chest.
Simi meant "baby" in Charonte?
Sonovabitch. He wondered if Acheron knew that. "You are Simi's sister?"
Xirena hissed at him in anger. "She is named Xiamara after our mother."
"She doesn't know that. Believe me."