"Okay, so why give it to me?"
"Open the folder."
Ravyn did. His gaze went straight to the third paragraph where Leo had underlined four words that leaped out at him. Chief of police's wife.
"That's who she lived next door to."
Ravyn narrowed his eyes as those words went through him.
"Give it to Susan. Believe me, if anyone can find the truth, even while the cops are hunting her down, it's her." Leo patted him on the arm and left.
Alone now with Nick, Ravyn closed the folder. "Just so you know, Cael would never betray us."
"Yeah, and two years ago I thought Ash was a friend of mine. You know what that got me? A bullet to my brain."
"I don't know how you died, but I know Ash didn't kill you."
Nick gave a bitter laugh. "I wish I still had your blind faith. Unfortunately, mine was stripped from me the night I died."
Ravyn felt sorry for the man. What he had inside him was actually very typical for a new Dark-Hunter. That sense of outrage and of being wronged. The need to strike out at everyone around you. Hell, he'd even attacked Acheron when the Atlantean had shown up to train him. But then, he hadn't really needed training. Unlike a human warrior, he was used to his powers and used to fighting preternatural beings.
"When do you want to start your training?"
"I don't need training," Nick said. "I was a Theti and I know how to stake a Daimon. "
As a former Squire, Nick also knew the basics for Dark-Hunter survival.
"Fine. I guess for the first time in history, Savitar was wrong."
"He wasn't wrong. He just wanted an excuse to get me off the island. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."
Ravyn didn't even want to go there. He didn't say anything as Nick left the room. That was one troubled man. But until he was willing to let go of the bitterness, there was nothing Ravyn or anyone else could do for him.
As Ravyn started for the door, he froze. There was something strange in the air... a whispering.
Closing his eyes, he summoned his powers of cognition and tried to hone in on it. But for his life, he couldn't. Instead, it settled as an uneasy feeling deep in his gut. Something bad was about to happen. He just couldn't tell what it was.
Ash laughed deep in his throat as Artemis clutched him to her in the throes of her latest orgasm. Sighing in complete contentedness, she held him close as the last tremor shook her body.
"Ah," she breathed in his ear as she draped one arm around his neck while her long, shapely legs slid from around his waist to the floor so that she could support her own weight.
Ash wiped the sweat from his face with his hand. Every muscle in his body was twitching from the marathon she'd put him through over the last six hours. His long blond hair was damp while his entire body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. He gladly welcomed the cool breeze that whispered in from the veranda.
Leaning back against the wall, Artemis laughed seductively. "Surely you're not giving up so quickly, Acheron. Only two more to go now. I wonder what position we should try next?"
He pulled away and gave her a crooked smile as he summoned a towel and used it to wipe at his chest. "Actually, that was your sixth and now you owe me a feeding before I leave." Completely uninhibited by his nudity, he draped the towel over his shoulders and held it in place with both hands.
Her face fell immediately. "What?" She looked past his shoulder to her hourglass on the shelf above her bed. It was still half-full of sand. "You're wrong, Acheron. That was only four since I started timing this."
Leaning on one arm against the wall where she stood, he savored the sensation of having bested her again. One day she'd learn not to play these games with him. But what the hell? At least it kept him on his toes. "From when you started logging your time, yes. But not from when I started logging mine."
He snapped his fingers and five hourglasses appeared beside hers. Each one had started right before her orgasms began. One hourglass to mark the hour from when one started until he had given her six within the allotted time.
All had expired except for the last two, but it was the fourth hourglass that was important. Held between the hands of two black gargoyles as the last few sands were quickly making their way from the top to the bottom, it was his key to freedom. He held his hand out and it shot from the shelf to his waiting grip so that he could show it to her.
"This one started earlier, right before you had your last two orgasms and vanished out of the room to delay our bargain. You came back after your hourglass had expired to begin again, but mine was still going... marking the time from when the last two left off to these four. Now I've fulfilled our pact, Artie. You've had your six orgasms in one hour. "
She shrieked in outrage. "No! That wasn't what we agreed. You-"