You? Not so much.
The mountain sneered up at Acheron. "We're not afraid of you."
Ash shrugged nonchalantly. "That would be exponentially foolish on your part. But I'm not the one you need to fear." Ash turned and approached Ren. "You look like hell, buddy."
"Ah, damn," Ren said, trying not to move his busted jaw any more than necessary. "All those hours in the salon wasted. I'd just got my nails done, too."
"You're so not right." Ash held his hand out to him so that he could pull Ren away from the wall, where Ren had himself braced to keep from falling again.
He took Ash's hand with the arm that hadn't been broken, and the moment he did, the pain vanished. Warmth spread through his veins as whatever Ash was doing to him healed his body completely.
Within a few seconds, Ren felt stronger than he ever had before. More than that, everyone else in the room was frozen solid-like someone had hit the pause button on a player.
Ash didn't seem to notice. "You know, Ren, it occurs to me that you never took your Act of Vengeance when Artemis signed you into her service."
"I didn't want it, then."
"And now?"
Ren glanced over to Coyote, who was frozen in the middle of a furious shriek that made the tendons on his neck protrude, and left his face a mask of ugliness.
As Dark-Hunters, they weren't allowed to arbitrarily kill anyone. There were very strict codes they had to follow. Murdering someone was a big no-no. "You'd allow it?"
Ash arched a wry brow. "You're part demon. Do you really give a shit what I think?"
"The demon in me that knows there's a demon in you who can mop the floor with my raunchy butt tells me to say yes. I care. Deeply."
"You're such a liar," Ash said with a laugh. "And a genius." He jerked his chin toward the group. "So, how about that vengeance?"
There was only one person in the room he truly wanted to lay low. "I'm going to kill Coyote."
"Take them all out if you want. You've earned it."
Ren frowned at the offer. Ash wasn't normally quite this bloodthirsty. Up until he'd married, Acheron had been all Hare Krishna-can't we all get along? Peace and love, brother. Peace and love. Kill the Daimons to free the human souls, but play nice with everyone else.
Yet from the moment Ash's wife Tory had placed that black titanium wedding ring on his finger, Ash had learned the benefits of "You knock on my door looking to fight? Then come on in, brother, and I'll put your rabid ass down tonight."
However, given Ash's lengthy past condemnations of wanton bloodshed, Ren wanted to make double sure that they were on the same page. "What exactly do you mean by that? Send them home intact, a little broken up, or in bloody body bags?"
No sooner had Ren asked the question, than seven more Rens appeared in the room around them. They stood before the Gate Guardians and were also frozen in place, yet posed as if they were about to clobber the one in front of them.
What the hell?
Ash folded his arms over his chest. "Relax. They'll vanish once they dispense of their assigned target ... in whatever way you want them to. And you'll be none the weaker for it. Their powers don't draw from you."
Ren gaped at Ash's abilities. While he'd known the man had mad gpd powers, he'd had no idea that insta-clone-a-warrior was one of them.
"How did you do that?" Ren breathed. "For that matter, how can you even be here? I thought you couldn't help us tonight."
Ash shrugged. "Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but your gene pool is a little shallow when it comes to intelligence. The hallowed part of the Valley doesn't begin for another five miles in." He flashed a fanged grin at Ren. "Great place to set up camp, huh? I'd laugh at your brother's arrogant idiocy if it wasn't so pathetic. Anyway, I thought you were going in with the others, not detouring here. Had I known this was your plan, I'd have had your back all along. Sometimes, Ren, you have to remember that you do have friends now. And some of us have been around for a very long time. Like a permanent boil on your ass, I'm kind of attached to all of you."
Ren laughed. "I will remember that. Thank you."
Ash inclined his head respectfully. "I shall leave you and Beza to your fun. I'll take care of Choo Co La Tah for you, and continue holding the line against the vermin breaking though the barriers." He headed over to where Choo lay in an unconscious lump.
"Acheron?" Ren took care to use the true Atlantean pronunciation of his name with a hard C and audible H. "Herista." Thank you.
Ash tapped his heart twice with his fist, which was an Atlantean gesture for blood family. "Atee, mer, atee." Anytime, brother, anytime. Then, turning, he picked Choo up and vanished with him. As soon as Ash was gone, everyone returned to normal.