His heart aching for the man, Ash spun his wedding ring around on his finger with his thumb. While he'd known how much Phoebe's loss had crippled Urian, he now, because of his wife Tory, had a new perspective on it that horrified him. The mere thought of losing his wife tore a hole so deep inside him that he was amazed Urian could function at all.
And he couldn't even think about losing his son without wanting to kill everyone around him. For the first time in his eleven thousand years of life, he fully understood his mother's rage where he was concerned. If anything ever happened to his family, he would make his mother's anger look like a gentle summer breeze.
Every day Urian got up and managed to make it through without going ape-shit on the world was a victory for him. Ash had never known anyone stronger, and he respected the man immensely.
"I want you two to be careful and take Cabeza with you. You'll need someone who knows the pantheon and who can speak and read their language."
Urian scoffed. "I read and speak Greek, Acheron. Tell me what on earth is harder than that?"
"Olmec and Mayan. You ever tried either?"
"That would be ... no. Never had a reason to. Besides, I thought they were space aliens."
Alexion snorted. "He's been watching a lot of History Channel lately."
Urian curled his lip. "Have to do something to drown out you and your wife. Wish you two would soundproof your room. Although I have yet to figure out how two noncorporeal beings could ... never mind. I do not want to go there."
"And on that note, I'm heading back to the realm of humanity to help combat what's already being unleashed against them."
"Are you sending Tory and Bas here for protection?" Alexion asked.
Ash shook his head. "I sent them to my mother when all of this started. Should we fail, I figure that's the safest place. At least I know how far she'll go to protect them."
"True enough. All right, I'll go watch the statues and let you know if one of them twitches."
"Please do so."
Urian inclined his head to Acheron. "And I'm off to rendezvous with Sasha and Cabeza."
Ash didn't move as the two of them vanished to attend to their duties. He ran his hand over his Simi tattoo and considered sending her to his mother as well. But he knew better. Simi would never leave him alone to battle what was coming for them, and that bothered him most. No matter how hard he tried, he could never let himself forget that he was the sole reason Simi had no mother-that Simi had been an orphan before he adopted her. Her mother had died trying to keep Apollo from gutting him. The poor Charonte had failed, but at least she'd tried.
Every time he looked at Simi, he saw her mother's face and guilt stabbed him hard. It was why he couldn't deprive her of anything, except for the killing of other creatures. That was the only thing he forbade her to do. Unless they threatened her first, and then it was open season on them and Simi could grab BBQ sance and have at them. No holds barred.
Closing his eyes, he tried to see the future, which for him shouldn't be a problem. But because it involved so many people he cared about, he saw nothing at all.
The one thing he could feel was the heartbeat of the world that thrummed like a solid hum under his feet. It vibrated through him as the constellations aligned and the gateways were weakened.
Evil was coming and it wasn't going to take prisoners.
Let the war begin....
Ren cursed under his breath. Never in his life had he felt more worthless-which basically said it all about their situation and his inability to get them out of this realm. "I'm sorry, Kateri."
"Hey..." She pulled him to a stop as they walked through an endless forest. "You don't need to keep apologizing for something you can't help. We'll make it out. We will."
"How can you have such faith?"
"Oh c'mon, you defeated death and came back to life. You have to have faith, too. I know you do."
The edges of his lips twitched at her words. Amazed by her ability to find amusement and to make light of an extremely bad situation, he stared into beautiful eyes that seared him.
Step away from her. Now!
For once, he didn't listen. Before he could stop himself, he kissed her. The scent of her skin and the taste of her mouth sent his body into overdrive. Everything around them was going wrong. Everything. His primary powers weren't working. They had demons after them. The First Guardian was missing. Choo was captured....
And she felt like heaven in the midst of hell. It didn't make sense. He should be hating himself for his incompetence, but when he looked at her, he didn't see disdain or contempt. He saw friendship. Kindness. Encouragement.
Worst of all, the same desire he had for her.