Danger came awake to something tickling her nose. Shaking her head, she brushed it away, only to have it return again to annoy her.

Aggravated, she opened her eyes to find Alexion kneeling on the floor beside her with a devastatingly gorgeous grin on his face. He laid the rose he'd been tormenting her with down on the mattress in front of her.

"Good evening, beautiful. I was afraid you were going to sleep the night away."

Danger returned his smile as she stretched and yawned. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight."

She froze at his words. "What?"

He leaned his chin on the mattress. There was something very innocent and sweet about that gesture. It was wholly unexpected from a man who was capable of the power this one commanded. "I told you. You were sleeping the night away."

She was completely stunned. She couldn't remember the last time she'd overslept. Come to think of it, she'd never done this before. Six hours a night was her maximum. But this time she'd managed to sleep twelve and she wasn't even in her own bed. How had that happened?

Maybe you need mind-blowing sex more often?

Well, that went without saying.

Yawning, she sat up slowly, clutching the sheet to her to find a nice dinner laid out on the small table by the window. This was just too good to be true-a man who could be terrifyingly powerful and protective, awesome in bed, and still be considerate enough to feed her a decent meal the next day.

No guy was this perfect.

She cringed as that thought went through her. Oh, yeah, he did have one serious drawback. He was rather dead and "other." But for an eternity of this kind of pampering, she just might be willing to overlook that one disturbing flaw. After all, she was no picnic herself.

Alexion turned a lamp on by the table. "I hope you like Chinese."

"As a matter of fact, I do." For some reason that made no sense whatsoever, she had a sudden case of shyness about leaving the bed buck naked while he stood there with that intense stare. She looked about the room awkwardly, wondering how she could dress without him seeing her.

Blind him?

That might be a problem, not to mention... rude.

He scratched his chin before he indicated the door with his thumb. "You want a Coke to drink? I can go get you one."

She smiled, relieved that he was a little more intuitive than most men. He really was "other." No mere mortal man would do such a thing. "Yes, please. That would be great."

He nodded, then left her alone.

Picking up the rose to inhale its fragrance, Danger took the time to lie back in the bed and remember the way they had spent the early morning hours.

To be awakened like this was something wonderful indeed.

"A woman could get used to this." She sighed dreamily as a foreign sensation of warmth and happiness rippled through her. "I think I like 'other.'"

"Other" gave her a satisfaction the likes of which she'd never known before. He made her feel things that she had never thought to feel again. She was actually giddy with the idea of spending another night with him.

Giddy? Me?

It was inconceivable that she would feel that. Yet she did. There was no way to deny it.

If only it could last. But she knew better. Their time together was all too limited.

Sighing, she got up and went to take a quick shower.

Alexion hesitated inside the room as he heard the water running in the bathroom. He had a perfect image in his mind of the water running over Danger's naked body. Of her soaping herself... Touching her flesh intimately.

An image of her in there running her hands over her breasts with her legs slightly parted.

His cock hardened immediately.

It was more than he could stand. His mouth dry, he set the drink down and went to push open the door to the bathroom. "Need someone to scrub your back?"

She made a squeak as if he'd startled her. "What are you doing in here?" she snapped.

"Wanting to see you naked in the shower," he said without embarrassment or hesitation.

She opened the curtain to stare at him. Her hair was plastered to her body, but the strands parted over her breasts, leaving the tips of them bare to his hungry gaze. "You need to learn control."

"That I have in spades."

She ran an equally hot look over his clothed body. "I am tempted, but I slept too late. We need to get back out there and see what's up with Kyros and crew."

She was right.

"Fine," he said, hating the fact that he had a job to do that didn't include more naked time with her. "Hormones leashed." He let out a tired breath, then started away.

She caught his hand to stop him. "There's always the dawn, you know?"

He lifted her hand so that he could place a kiss to the back of her knuckles. "Is that a promise?"

She nodded.

He closed his eyes and savored the softness of her skin before he released her and allowed her to finish her bath. But it was hard.

Not as hard as I am.

That was certainly true enough. He was having a difficult time sitting with the erection that wouldn't be denied.

While she finished showering, he distracted himself by preparing her food. Impulsively, he picked up a piece of the chicken to taste it.

His heart clenched as he tasted nothing. It was like the popcorn. There was no difference whatsoever. Only the texture differentiated one from the other.

"I miss eating," he breathed, moving away from the white containers of food. As a man, he had liked nothing better than that long feast at the end of a battle. The roasted lamb and beef that had been marinated in wine and spices. Goblets of rich, red wine and mead.

His mother had made the best honeyed bread he'd ever tasted.

Of all the things he'd lost by being reincarnated, he hated losing the ability to taste the most.

No, that wasn't true, he hated losing his soul, but the food was a close second.

He heard the door open. Turning, he saw Danger leaving the bathroom, fully dressed. She had a white towel wound round her head. "How is it?"

"Still warm." That was all he could tell about it.

"Are you eating?"

"I ate already," he lied. She was suspicious enough about what sustained him. The last thing he needed to do was confide in her how Acheron kept him alive. There were some things she didn't need to know.

Just as she sat down, her cell phone rang. Picking it up, Danger looked at the caller ID. "It's Kyros."

She opened the phone, then answered it.

"Yeah," she said after a brief pause. "We're still in Starkville. Where are you?"

Alexion closed his eyes and concentrated so that he could hear Kyros through the phone.

"Where are you staying?" Kyros asked.

"In a hotel."

"Is Ias with you?"

Danger cleared her throat before she answered. "Why do you want to know?"

"I've been thinking about what he said and I wanted to talk to him again."

"Hang on." She handed the phone to him.

Hoping his friend had come to his senses, Alexion placed it to his ear. "Yes?"

"How close are you to Acheron?"

"Very. Why?"

"Is it true that he has his own demon?"

Alexion decided to play vague. Simi's existence was something Acheron only shared with a few Dark-Hunters, and Kyros wasn't one of the privileged few. "What demon?"

"Be honest with me, Ias," he snarled. "Dammit, you owe me that much."

Alexion ground his teeth. What harm could there be in answering that one question? It wasn't as if Simi couldn't protect herself, especially against a Dark-Hunter. "Yes, he has a demon."

"Then, if I were you, I'd summon it."

"Why?"

No sooner was the question out of his mouth than someone knocked on their door.

Kyros hung up on him.

"That's weird," he said, pushing the button to turn the phone off while Danger got up to open the door.

Before she reached it, a small ball of light came through the wood as if it were nothing tangible. The door itself was left intact while the ball twirled to the center of the room where it grew larger and larger until it was the size and shape of a grown woman.

Two seconds later, a bright burst of light flashed into the room and the shape became that of a tall, fanged female demon.

She had black horns, black lips, red wings, black hair, and yellow eyes. Her skin was marbled with red and black.

But what caught him by surprise was the fact that he knew her face as well as he knew his own.

"Simi?"

She hissed at him, then attacked. She grabbed his arm and slung him into the wall.

Alexion rebounded off it, but caught himself. What the hell was going on here? Simi would never hurt him. Not like this.

She moved to hit him again.

He jumped back, out of her reach. "What is wrong with you, Sim?" he asked in Charonte.

"Do not defile my language, human scum," she snarled angrily.

At least that's what he thought she said. Her words and pronunciation were different from the Charonte that Simi spoke. It was like another dialect.

Danger started for her.

"No!" he snapped. He had to understand this. How could this demon look so much like Acheron's?

"Who are you?" he asked her.

She cocked her head and glared at him with absolute hatred. Her white fangs flashed against her much darker skin tone. "I am death and destruction and I am here to claim your life, worm."

Danger actually growled at him. "Alexion..."

"Please, Danger, trust me."

The words were barely out of his mouth before the demon grabbed him by the throat and slung him to the ground.

"Protula akri gonatizum, vlaza!"

The demon curled her lip at him. "You are no god to command me, servant. Xirena bows before no one."

He would have made a comment to that, but the grip on his throat made it impossible to speak. She tore open his shirt as if she were about to rip his heart out.

"I think I need to interfere, Alexion," Danger said, inching closer to them. "From where I'm standing, you're losing big time."

"No!" he choked out, afraid the demon would tear her apart if she tried anything.

The demon pulled a dagger from her waist. Alexion struggled with all his might. It was what he feared most-a dagger from the Destroyer.

That would kill him.

But in spite of his struggling, he couldn't get her to budge off him or her grip to loosen even a tiny bit.

Until her eyes fell to his shoulder where he bore Acheron's mark.

Her eyes flashed red. She let go of his throat to pull the fabric back so that she could study the mark more closely.

Still he couldn't get her off him.

She cocked her head as she studied the tattoo intently. "You serve the one who is cursed?"

"Yes."

She looked even more puzzled by that. "You called me Simi in a child's language. Do you know my Simi?"

Alexion drew deep, ragged breaths in through his bruised esophagus. It burned and ached. He wasn't sure if the pain would ever cease.

"Simi's mother is dead. We were told all the Charontes were gone. Who the hell are you?"

Her gaze narrowed threateningly at him, as if she were offended that he didn't know of her. "I am Xirena, the eldest hatchling of Xiamara and Pistriphe-the supreme guardians of the hall of the gods. I was the protector of my mother's simi... her baby. My simi was taken from me by the bitch-goddess Apollymi, after my mother's death, to be a gift for the cursed god. Do you know where my simi is?"

Alexion couldn't think as he stared up at the demon on his chest.

Simi meant "baby" in Charonte?

Sonovabitch. He wondered if Acheron knew that. "You are Simi's sister?"

Xirena hissed at him in anger. "She is named Xiamara after our mother."

"She doesn't know that. Believe me."

She pulled back from him ever so slightly. Her face showed her confusion. "You know her?"

"I take care of her."

To his complete shock, bloodred tears filled her eyes. "You care for my sister?"

He nodded. "Always. She's like my daughter."

A single red tear streaked down her cheek. "My simi lives? She thrives?"

"Like a queen on a throne."

She threw her head back and let out an inhuman cry that sounded like a bizarre mixture of anguish and joy. She got off him and squatted by his side. Her wings curled around her body, forming a cloak. "Summon her for me, please."

He met Danger's gaze. She looked as confused as he felt.

Simi wasn't alone in the world? There were two of them? He wasn't sure if that was good news or bad. "I would summon her for you, but that's not exactly something that's done."

"Yes it is," she said in a very Simi-like tone. "You tell her to come and she must obey you."

"Yeah," he said in a tone that was a mixture of nervous humor and doubt. "Simi doesn't obey anyone but Simi."

Xirena shook her head. "She obeys her akri. She must."

"Well," Alexion said slowly, still afraid the Charonte might go back into attack mode. "In her case, her akri obeys her. And neither one of them is listening to me at present."

She scowled at him. "That is not natural. Once a Charonte is bound, it must obey. I refused the bond and am free, but my simi was bound as a small one to the cursed god. She must obey him. She has no choice."

Yeah, right. Never once had Alexion seen it work that way.

"In the case of Simi, I think it's more Acheron is bound to her, not the other way around."

She didn't seem to understand that. "But you can take me to my simi?"

"Yes."

She threw her arms around him and held him close. It lasted for about two heartbeats, before she pulled back and glared at him again. She grabbed him by the throat. "If you are lying to me, worm, I will rip out your brains and eat them all."

Alexion screwed up his face at the thought. Yeah, she was Simi's sister all right. Some things must run in their family. "That is really disgusting and no, I wouldn't lie to you. Not about this."

She turned to look at Danger. "Is she your female?"

"No."

"I'll kill her anyway if you are lying to Xirena."

"I'm not lying."

Danger didn't understand a single word of what they were saying, other than the name Acheron. She watched apprehensively as the demon got up, then helped Alexion to his feet.

"What's going on?" she asked him.

Alexion still looked a bit nervous and shaken. "It appears we have a new friend. Danger, meet Xirena."

Xirena came over to sniff her. She moved much like a bird, cocking her head at strange angles and with jerking movements.

"You are not human," the demon announced. "You have no soul."

"Thank you for the obvious. Did you know you have horns on your head?"

The sarcasm appeared to be lost on the demon.

"Actually, she brings up a good point. Xirena, can you make yourself appear human?"

The demon snarled as if the very thought disgusted her. "Why would Xirena wish to do that?"

"So as not to cause a panic with the other humans," Alexion explained. "Simi does it all the time."

She looked horrified. "Her akri makes her appear as human? That is the worst torture. My poor simi to be so abused!"

"Not really. Simi enjoys it."

She covered her head with her hands as if she were in great pain. "What have you done to my simi?"

Alexion pulled one of her hands away and gave her a meaningful stare. "We have loved her as if she were the most precious thing ever born."

Xirena appeared even more baffled. Two seconds later, she looked like a beautiful blond woman.

Except for one thing.

"Uh," Danger said, pointing to the top of her head, "the horns need to go too."

They vanished immediately.

Xirena moved to the mirror to look at herself. She jumped back and curled her lip. "I look like the Atlantean bitch-goddess." She turned her hair black. "Better."

Danger stared at her. "Is it just me or does she look a lot like Acheron now?"

"Don't ask," Alexion said. "Xirena, I take it you were sent here to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Who sent you?"

She blew a strange-sounding raspberry. "The moron half-god Daimon, Strykerius. He said you were a servant, but you do not bear the mark of a servant on you. You bear the mark of royal family."

Alexion was surprised by that. Acheron had never explained the sign to him except to say that he had to bear it in order to live. "Really?"

"Did you not know?" the demon asked.

He shook his head.

Xirena sighed. "Humans, even those who are no more, are stupid."

He ignored her very Simi-like words. There was a lot more to her presence here and he wanted to understand it. "Why does Stryker want me dead?"

"I do not know. Does the reason matter? Dead is dead. Who cares why when what matters is avoiding it, yes?"

She had a really good point with that. "Why did you agree to kill me?"

Xirena drew herself up and gave him a harsh look. "I thought the cursed god had abused my sister. That he had harmed her or mistreated her. She was not old enough to be sent out. The bitch-goddess knew this and yet she took her from me, even while I fought her to keep my simi safe. My simi was barely more than an infant and unable to fend for herself. I have hated the goddess ever since for it."

Danger held up her hand to get their attention. "Just out of curiosity, is Acheron the cursed god?"

Alexion cringed.

"Yes," Xirena said before he could stop her.

"And the bitch-goddess?" Danger asked.

"Apollymi."

Alexion told Xirena to stop in Charonte, but she didn't listen.

"The Daimon queen?" Danger asked again.

"Daimon queen?" Xirena made a sound of complete contempt. "No. She is the Destroyer of all things. The bringer of plagues and pestilence. She is the force that will end the world for all time. She is the ultimate in power and destruction. Her will is divine law."

Danger looked thrilled by that. "Oh, goodie. That's just what I wanted to hear."

"Relax," Alexion told her. "Apollymi's contained. She's not going to destroy anything in the near future... I hope."

Danger only heard part of that. The rest of her thoughts returned to what Xirena had said a few moments ago. "So Ash is a god and not a Dark-Hunter. Is that what you've been protecting?"

A tic worked in Alexion's jaw.

"You might as well admit it. That's what the demon said, and unless I'm stupid, which I'm not, he is a god."

Alexion gave her a harsh, penetrating stare. "No one can ever know that about him. He'll have a fit of titanic proportions, and trust me, a pissed-off god is not something to relish."

Danger let out a long, exasperated breath. Suddenly everything was clear to her for the first time ever.

"You know, Ash as a Daimon made a lot of sense. But this... this explains everything, doesn't it?"

He looked away from her. No wonder he was sworn to secrecy.

But why wouldn't Ash tell them? What was the point of keeping that to himself?

And as her mind grappled with this new tidbit, she thought of what Alexion had told her about Ash and Artemis's relationship. "That's why Artemis needed us, huh? She can't just command another god without some major leverage."

"No, she can't."

She had to say that it sucked to be said leverage. Poor Acheron, to be controlled by them. It was a wonder he didn't hate every one of them. But for them, he would be free. "So we are her pawns while she and Acheron play games with each other."

"No," Alexion said, his sincerity burning into her. "Acheron never uses human life as a pawn. Ever. He doesn't find anything entertaining about playing with people."

He sighed. "But Artemis isn't so kind. She doesn't understand humanity the way Acheron does."

"How is it he's so fortunate?"

"He lived as a human," he said simply. "That's the cursed part Xirena refers to. He was born as a human baby and he died brutally as a human man."

That didn't make sense to her. "But he's a god."

"A cursed god."

"Why was he cursed?" Danger asked.

The veil fell over his face. "That is something best left undiscussed. He'll be angry enough over this little bit having escaped. Let's not tweak him any more, shall we?"

Xirena's attention pricked up at that. "Is he an angry god, like the Destroyer?"

"No," Alexion assured her, "he's remarkably calm ninety-nine percent of the time. It's that one percent, though, that's a killer... literally."

The demon nodded as she poked at the television. "Your warning is taken."

"So what are we going to do with her?" Danger asked, indicating the demon with a tilt of her head.

"That's a really good question and I have absolutely no answer for it. I'm completely open to suggestions of any sort." Alexion sighed. What could they do with the demon? Simi had spent a lot of time around humans and she was still less than civilized.

Xirena...

He paused that thought as she shattered the television.

Xirena stared at it in horror. "Why did that break?"

"You can't slam your fist into the screen," he explained.

"Why not?" she asked in a voice that sounded eerily close to Simi's.

"It breaks," Danger answered.

"But why?"

Danger placed her hand against her temple as if she were beginning to feel a pain there. "Is this normal demon behavior?"

He nodded. "Just wait. This is very mild. It gets a whole lot worse."

"Great. I'm really looking forward to it."

Xirena picked up the remote to place it in her mouth. Alexion grabbed it away from her. "Plastic isn't good for demons."

Xirena glared at him. "How do you know?"

"It gives Simi a bellyache every time. Trust me. It's just not a good Charonte snack."

As Danger watched the demon explore the hotel room, a thought occurred to her. "You know, I think we can return to my house now."

"How so?"

She tilted her head toward Xirena. "We have our own demon now, right?"

Alexion smiled as he understood her meaning. "If the other one is still there, she can wrangle him out."

"Yep. Let's check out of here and go on a demon hunt, shall we?"

The drive back to Tupelo was positively boring, except for when the demon discovered the radio. She almost caused Danger to wreck as she leaned over the front seat, playing with the stations.

With every new song, Xirena tried to sing the words, which she didn't know.

Worse, she couldn't sing on key at all.

Danger glanced over to Alexion who took it all in stride.

"Aren't you going deaf?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "I'm used to it, though to be honest, Simi is at least on key most of the time. She lives to sing."

After a while, the demon shrank in size and then lay down on the seat with her feet up in the air and her head hanging off the cushion, toward the floor board.

Danger frowned. "What's she doing?"

"Resting. They sleep like that."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Simi props her feet up on the wall most nights. I have no idea why."

"It's comfortable," Xirena said. "You should try it."

And two seconds later, the demon was asleep.

Danger cringed at the horrendous sound of her snoring. "Don't tell me Simi does that as well?"

"No, she's louder."

"And you tolerate her?"

"Considering she is the one thing Acheron loves most in this world, yes. I honestly think he would literally die if anything happened to her."

"What about you?"

"I would kill or die to keep her safe."

Danger smiled at that. "There aren't many men in the world who would die for a demon."

"That's only because they don't have one to love."

Maybe, but it would take a special kind of man to look past the scaly weirdness of such a creature and be able to love it. "You must have been a good father."

Sadness creased his brow an instant before he turned away from her to look out the window.

Danger mentally kicked herself for saying that out loud. "I'm sorry, Alexion, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," he said gently. "Simi tells me that all the time-whenever she's not pissed at me for trying to teach her manners." He gave a light laugh. "She says I'm the best 'other' daddy a demon ever had."

Even so, she could tell that it bothered him. But then it bothered her too. She'd wanted children so much as a human that it still ached whenever she thought about it.

That was one of the nice things about being nocturnal-she didn't come across children except in movies and on television. And even that hurt.

But not as much as seeing kids playing in real life, hearing their laugher.

What she wouldn't give to hold her own child in her arms, just once. To be in a delivery room with her husband holding her hand as she cursed him for the pain of the life that was struggling to be born.

It really was all she had ever wanted.

She swallowed against the painful lump in her throat. Some things weren't meant to be.

Love. Family...

They were gone from her future. But at least she had some semblance of life. Alexion didn't even have that much. He was denied even more than she was and that made her hurt for him deep down inside her heart.

Danger turned onto her street. She didn't speak as they neared her house, which looked just as it had when they'd fled. She pulled into the garage, but left the door open in case they had to make another hasty exit.

Alexion got out first, then paused. "Xirena?"

The demon snorted, then rolled to her side.

She exchanged an amused look with Alexion before he leaned into the car and gently shook her shoulder. "Xirena?"

"What?" the demon snapped.

"We're here, and if you wish to meet Simi, I need you to come inside to make sure the other demon isn't still here."

She opened her eyes, which were no longer human in appearance. They were again that eerie yellow. "What demon?"

"The one that tried to kill me before you."

She made a strange snorting noise. "He's not here. Why do you think Strykerius sent me? Caradoc is a wuss."

"Caradoc?"

"You know," she said in that singsongy accent. "Big, ugly Charonte who smells bad. He was afraid to kill you because you spoke to him in Charonte. Like Xirena said... wuss demon."

He finally understood her. "Ah, okay. Well, at any rate, we need to get you inside for the time being so that we can hide you."

Huffing in aggravation, she got out of the car and followed him inside.

"So what's our game plan?" Danger asked, as Xirena wandered through her living room.

"I want to find Kyros and talk to him."

That didn't make sense to her. Kyros had made his position more than clear. She shook her head at his suggestion.

Alexion was a serious glutton for punishment.

"Why?"

"I want to know why he called to warn me about Xirena. If he'd really wanted me dead, he wouldn't have bothered."

She saw the hopeful look in his face that said he believed Kyros had somehow been won over. She wasn't so sure about that. "We could just call him back."

"No. I want to see his face. I think he's still salvageable."

For his sake, she hoped so. "All right. What do we do with Xirena in the meantime?"

"Leave her here."

She didn't like the idea of that at all. "But what if another demon comes after you while we're gone? She can't help if she's here."

He took a deep breath as if he were considering it. "I don't think they'd bother. Two have already failed. Why send another?"

"Persistence?"

He laughed at that.

Danger jumped as one of her expensive vases fell to the floor and shattered.

"Uh-oh," Xirena said in a tone that reminded her of a child. "That was breakable too."

"We can't leave her here unattended," she said to Alexion. "She'll destroy my whole house."

Suddenly, her vase reassembled itself and returned to her mantel.

Danger frowned at him.

He offered her a lopsided grin. "Xirena," he said to the demon. "Do you know how to write?"

"Of course I do. I'm not one of them illiterate demons. What kind of Charonte do you think I am?"

"Good." He said, ignoring her tirade. He looked back at Danger. "Could you get me a pad and pen or pencil?"

"Why?" Danger asked.

"Trust me."

Not sure if she should, she went to comply while Alexion turned on her television without touching it.

She came back into the room to find the TV on QVC. The demon was parked in front of the set as if she'd found the Holy Grail. Her beautiful face reflected pure joy. Danger had never seen anything like it.

"What is Diamonique?" Xirena asked Alexion in an awed tone.

"Something I am sure you will love. And according to Simi, it's really good and crunchy, and it'll sharpen your fangs." He took the pad from Danger and handed it to the demon. "Here. Write down anything you see that you want and-"

He broke off as a caller spoke on the television show.

"Hello!" the chipper singsongy voice said.

"Hi, Miss Simi," the announcer said to the caller. "We're so glad to have you back."

"Oh, thank you," Simi said. "I just love them sparklies. I gots to get me lots of them. How many you got this time? Tell them other people they can go buy something else, 'cause the Simi wants all the Diamonique you got. I gots a whole new plastic card just waiting to be used."

Xirena's head came up as pure happiness lightened her face. "My simi? Is that my simi?"

Alexion looked absolutely ill. "Akri," he said under his breath. "I hope you're there to get her off that phone."

But apparently he wasn't.

"I'll take me seven dozen of them rings," Simi said. "Oh, and them necklaces, too, that you had up a little while ago. I needs to have lots of sparklies in my room. They are really nice whenever them dragons come in to play. But that little one, he keeps eating my Diamonique. I tell him no. It's for me to eat. But does he listen? No. That's the problem with dragons, they-"

"Well, Miss Simi," the operator said, cutting her off, "thank you for calling. We'll transfer you over to an operator and let you place your order."

Xirena was in front of the television now, with her cheek pressed up against the screen and her hand spread out beside her face. She looked as if she were trying to peer into the set. "Where is my simi?" The sadness and pain in her voice brought an ache to Danger's chest.

"She's in Katoteros," Alexion told her.

"The gods are all dead there," Xirena said in a ragged tone. "She'd be alone in Katoteros."

"Not all of them are dead."

"Simi!"

Danger cringed at the cry, which was so shrill and loud she was amazed it didn't shatter her windows or her eardrums. It was a cry of pain and of happiness.

Alexion moved forward to take Xirena into his arms as she sobbed and continued to scream out for her sister's return. Her longing was so sad that it brought tears to Danger's eyes.

"Shhh," he said, rocking her in his arms. "It's okay, Xirena. Simi is well and happy and shopping like a demon. Literally. She has never known a moment of pain in her life."

Xirena pulled back. "Never?"

"Almost never and I assure you that the ones who hurt her paid dearly for it."

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

Alexion took her hand into his.

Danger frowned as she watched him close his eyes and rock the demon. They stayed there on the floor for several minutes before the demon opened her eyes and looked up at Alexion. There was admiration and love in that odd yellow gaze.

"You are good people," the demon announced. "I won't doubt you anymore."

Alexion inclined his head to her before he released her and rose.

The demon sniffed loudly, then brushed her tears away.

Danger cocked her head as he neared her. "What did you just do?"

"I showed her part of my memories with Simi so that she would understand the way her sister is treated."

"Could you share memories with me?"

He didn't answer as he started back toward her garage door. "We need to find Kyros."

"Answer me, Alexion."

He paused in her hallway. "Yes," he said, without looking back.

A shiver went through her at his power. "You are spooky."

He turned to face her. One corner of his mouth was lifted into an almost taunting smile. "You have no idea."

Maybe, but she had a bad feeling that before all this was over, Kyros would get a taste of those powers firsthand. She only hoped she didn't end up on the receiving end of them too.

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