Her feet were propped up over the back while her head dangled off the side of it. One arm was flung over her head and lay against the floor while the other was crossed over her chest. Smiling at the Simi-like pose, he grabbed the blanket off the armchair and covered her up.
His time here in Mississippi had definitely been his oddest assignment.
But at least time was on his side. Stryker would think he still had the soul within him and that it was incapacitating him.
Until the time that Stryker expected the soul to die, the Daimon should leave them alone. It gave him a few days to make contact with the other Dark-Hunters to feel them out.
He would call the Dark-Hunter meeting in three days and then the fate of them all would be decided.
His thoughts drifted back to Kyros and he wanted to curse out loud at the injustice. Kyros was lost to him.
But I found Danger.
And in the end, he would lose them both.
Life did, indeed, suck.
"Keep an eye on Dangereuse."
Alexion froze as the soft, feminine voice whispered through his head. If he didn't know better, he would swear it was...
"Artemis?"
"The Daimon wants you dead. If he can't take you, he will take someone else."
Alexion swallowed at her dire tone. "Why are you helping me, Artie? I know you hate me."
"I'm not Artemis. I'm just a friend who doesn't want to see Stryker hurt anyone else."
"Then how do I defeat him?"
"To defeat the invincible you can never strike at them. You must always strike at their heart."
"I've tried striking at his heart. He's a little swift on his feet."
The voice said nothing.
"Hello?" Alexion asked, but she was gone.
"Great," he said, clenching his teeth.
Stryker was going to make a move on Danger and the only way to save her would be to strike at a god who had no heart whatsoever.
"Shit, we're screwed."
Alexion spent the entire day watching Danger sleep. He sat in the cream jacquard padded chair beside her bed, completely absorbed by the pale beauty of her. She was without flaw. Without guile. Without cruelty inside. She would never hurt someone she loved. Indeed, she'd died trying to save her family when it would have been easy enough for her to have turned her back on them and saved herself.
It was part of why he loved her so.
"I don't want to leave her." He whispered the heartfelt words knowing that in the end he had no choice. Damn him for not being able to control his emotions where she was concerned. All he had done was ruin his own future.
Why was that?
Why did such pain have to exist in this world? Love should be easy. It should be simple. A person should be allowed to find that one person they couldn't live without and just go on their merry way to happily-ever-after.
But it didn't work that way. He was living, or dead, proof of it. Liora had sworn she loved him and look how that had turned out. It was hard to trust another person not to hurt you. There was still a part of him, even now, that wondered if he could go free, would Danger drop the medallion to save herself?
Would her own personal pain be so great that she would help herself before him?