Alexion laughed nervously. "I'm Greek and they hate us so I'm going to take that as a major nugatory. They spent a lot of time trying to kill us. So how do we stop this?"
"We have to retrieve the son of Sterope from the Mayan hell realm, along with Sunshine's cousin."
Feigning laugher, Alexion slapped at his thigh. "You're hilarious, boss. You ought to do stand-up. Stop, stop, you're killing me."
Ash pressed his fingers to his forehead. Though he couldn't get headaches, right now, he swore he had a migraine. "Times like this, I wish you were corporeal so I could give you a head slap."
Alexion sobered. "In all seriousness, can you go there?"
"Yes and no. I can, but I don't know what my presence in that realm might unleash. The Mayan gods have been dormant like ours. But I don't know if that means they're asleep or on lockdown like my mother. If they're on lockdown..."
"A foreign god in their domain is an ugly thing."
"Exactly."
"So who would know the answer?"
Ash considered it. "The Chthonian in charge of them is dead. Thank you, Savitar, for that PMS."
"Ah ... So what Chthonian is in charge of South America, and are they friendly?"
"Ecanus, and he's not on our side. He's very much like Savitar and has withdrawn from the world to let things run their course. Since most of their gods aren't active, neither is he. So long as the other Chthonians stay out of his territory, he doesn't come down out of his mountain home."
"Ah ... So who do we know who can go fetch our boy?"
"I can go."
They turned to see Urian standing in the doorway. Tall, and lethal, he had long white-blond hair that he wore in a ponytail.
Ash sucked his breath in sharply. "You're the son of a god, too."
"Half-god, and I'm dead and soulless. I have no allegiance to any pantheon." Urian screwed his face up. "Except yours, of course, but no one gives a shit about the Atlanteans, no offense."
No offense ... why did people always use those two words whenever they knew they were being offensive, as if it excused their behavior?
Alexion laughed before he spoke to Acheron. "And here I thought I went out of my way to annoy you." He laughed again. "Dang, Urian, you make it look so effortless."
Urian flipped him off.
Ash ignored the two men, who argued like brothers most of the time. "You really want to go do this?" he asked Urian. "Last time I checked, you were all about killing humanity, not protecting them."
Urian shrugged. "My father readjusted my attitude. And you're going to need someone who can draw on major source powers to get them out of there. Someone who's used to going in and out of hell realms."
Urian was definitely the expert in that. His father was the leader of the vampiric Daimons the Dark-Hunters had been created to fight against. For centuries, Urian had been his right hand, until Stryker had killed Urian's wife because Urian had lied to his father to protect her.
And if that wasn't cold-blooded enough, then Stryker had left Urian for dead. If not for Ash, Urian wouldn't be here now.
But more than that, Urian was the grandson of Apollo-the Greek god of the sun and plagues. It might not be a bad thought to send him in, since there was no telling what kind of pestilence might be all over Ren. If anyone could curb it, Urian would be he.
"All right, but you'll need someone to help track them down."
"I'll call Sasha. Worst-case scenario, like me, he has no one to mourn him should he die valiantly from this rampant stupidity."
Ash narrowed his gaze on one of the very few people he trusted and one of only a handful he considered family. "That's not true and you know it."
"I'm not talking about friendship, Acheron. We die, all of you would get over it. It's not the same as losing your spouse or a child. As I said, we have no one to mourn us."
Ash winced for the pain he knew Urian lived with every day. The man had watched, one by one, as all of his siblings and his mother had died or been killed. He'd lost two adopted children and countless friends. But more than that, Urian had lost his most cherished Phoebe.