"Yes, he is."
"Can't he just kill off all the Daimons like he did tonight?"
"Probably."
"Then why doesn't he?"
Ravyn glanced at her as he shifted gears. "I have no idea. I guess it comes down to what Ash would say. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. There's a lot of stuff in this world that doesn't make sense. I would imagine the Daimons and Apollites are in some kind of balance with the rest of us and if he killed them all off, it would destroy it. "
"But you don't know that's true."
"No. I'm only guessing."
Susan considered that as they headed down the dark streets.
Balance...
It seemed like hogwash to her, but then what did she know? She was only a reporter who up until two days ago knew nothing of their existence.
"What do you think the Daimons will do now that Acheron is here?" she asked Ravyn.
"I don't know for sure, but if I were them, I'd run for cover."
Acheron let out a long, tired breath as he flashed himself to the alley behind the Serengeti. He could feel a presence inside the club that saddened him to the deepest part of his consciousness.
Nick Gautier.
Acheron hadn't seen him since the night Nick had killed himself and Ash had removed him from Hades and Artemis's clutches. Nick hated him and he had every right to.
In one fit of anger, Acheron had been the one to curse him to his death. The guilt of that festered inside Acheron like an open wound he knew would never heal.
And because of Nick's hatred, Ash had been unable to train Nick and so he'd sent him to live with Savitar. He didn't know why Savitar had freed him to this time and place. No doubt Savitar knew, but he would never share that information.
He was even better at keeping secrets than Ash was. How he wished he could see Nick's future. But Ash was forbidden to see his own future, or the future of anyone he cared about.
"No need to postpone the inevitable," he said under his breath. He wasn't a coward.
Steeling himself for what he knew was coming, Ash entered the club through the back door.
He met Dorian first as the Were-Hunter was taking a box of bottles from the storeroom.
"Ash," he said, his eyes wide. "You're in town."
"Hi, Dori. How's the mate?"
"She's fine. How's Simi?"
He could feel his Charonte demon in tattoo form crawling up his biceps to lay herself over his shoulder where she liked to sleep. "Same."
"Is she with you?"
Simi was almost always with him. "She might pop in later."
"Give us a little warning and I'll have Terra stock up on barbecue sauce."
"You got it." Ash moved past him, into the kitchen. He called a greeting to Terra and the cooks before he pushed his way through the door, into the club. The hip-hop music here was loud. It was "Grillz" by Nelly.
Ash was surprised Nick could hang out with that playing. Personally, Ash liked all kinds of music, but Nick didn't really care for hip-hop or rap. He only listened to metal and Cajun Zydeco.