Acheron

Those words put her into a realm of pissed off the likes of which she'd never known before. Raw, unmitigated fury blinded her and before she knew what she was doing, she'd jerked a hammer off the sawhorse beside her and thrown it at his head.

Unfortunately, he ducked it… then laughed. Laughed!

Unable to stand his mockery, she rushed to her car, hoping she didn't give into the urge she had to run them both down.

Julian turned a wide-eyed stare at Ash. 'Damn, Atlantean, what did you do?'

'I apparently made a new friend.'

Laughing nervously, Julian shook his head. 'I made a friend like that once. The bastard almost gutted me.'

'Yeah.' Ash felt a wave of guilt that he'd hurt her so badly. But it was nothing compared to what would be done to him if she'd succeeded in her quest. 'Guess I'll get back to my roof.'

Julian inclined his head to the street. 'I have to go and find her so I can return this.'

Ash went cold as he saw the small square package in Julian's hand. 'Return what?'

'It's a journal she found on some dig in Greece.'

'Can I see it?'

'Sure.' Julian pulled it out and handed it to him.

Ash's hand shook as he made himself betray no emotions. But inside… inside he was raw with grief. He opened the cover and saw the handwriting he knew so well.

Today is the eighteenth anniversary of my birth. Father woke me up with a new necklace and Mother and I spent the morning in our garden. Father was always kind enough to let her visit for the anniversary of my birth.

Ash clenched his teeth as he pictured the garden that Ryssa had kept so meticulously groomed. He'd never known that she'd shared it with her mother.

'You can read it, can't you?'

Ash nodded. 'It's an old dialect. Provincial.'

'Well, I'd say it would make her happy to know that, but after her reaction to you, I'm not so sure.'

Neither was he. Then again, he deserved her anger. 'Mind if I hang on to this?'

Julian hedged. 'It's not really mine. However, I trust you to do what's right with it.'

'Believe me, I will.'

Julian inclined his head to him, then turned to leave.

Ash stood there, holding his sister's journal. He couldn't believe it'd survived so well. It'd been buried under the sea since the day he'd sunk Didymos. But unlike his mother, he'd made sure that all the living people were gone before he'd obliterated it.

Now he had a piece of his past returned to him like a haunting ghost. The question was what was he going to do with it?

CHAPTER THREE

Three days later as she walked across campus, toward her office, Tory was mad enough to spit out iron nails. How dare Dr. Alexander give her journal to that… that…

One day she was going to think of a word that would adequately describe Acheron's particular breed of low, gutter, nasty, vile… ness.

'Dr. Kafieri?'

She turned to see Kyle Peltier, one of her students, running up to her. He was a typical junior, with blond hair and a sweet face. He'd just transferred from another school this semester and was one of her better students. 'Yes?'

'A friend of mine asked me to give you this.' He held out a box wrapped in kraft paper.

She stared at the unexpected gift. 'I don't understand.'

'Me either, but when he asks for a favor, you do the favor without asking why.'

Tory frowned at his cryptic words as she took the box. Kyle immediately rushed off before she could ask him anything more. 'Well that was interesting.' The box was heavy. She shook it, but couldn't figure out what it might contain.

Her current luck, a bomb.

Pushing the thought aside, she made her way to her small office, grabbed a cup of coffee and then set about opening it which was easier said than done. It was like the giver had hermetically sealed it shut with tape. 'I hate when people do this!'

Finally, after no less than five minutes, she was able to detach the lid from the box and pull it free. Opening it up, she froze. It contained a hammer, a handful of olive leaves, a note attached to a single red rose, and a leather pouch the same size as a small book. Her heart pounding, she picked up the brown leather pouch and opened it to find her journal.

A smile curled her lips. So the little monster had done the right thing. Now she was able to laugh about the hammer and the olive 'branches' he'd put inside. She picked up his note and opened it to find a beautiful masculine script.

I'm really not the asshole you think I am. The journal's from a young woman in an isolated part of Greece and documents her life for about eighteen months. It's pretty much boring reading, but if you want more details, call me. 555-602-1938.

Eirini,

Ash

Eirini-Greek for peace. Tory shook her head. Not the asshole she thought, yeah right. But it was kind of a sweet gesture and he had returned her journal.

With a rose.

Holding it up, she inhaled the sweet scent and debated whether or not she ever wanted to lay eyes on the troll again.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Urian frowned at Ash while Ash sat on his throne in Katoteros and played the guitar. Almost as tall as Ash, Urian had long white blond hair that he wore pulled back into a ponytail. A former Daimon, Urian had been saved by Ash after Urian's father viciously cut his throat. And like his father, Urian had a most acerbic personality that he was more than proud of.

Not willing to deal with Urian's ill mood swings or explain himself, Ash ignored the man while he continued to sing Matchbox 20's 'Push' under his breath.

Simi lay on her stomach, watching QVC as she devoured a tub of barbecue-flavored popcorn. She was dressed in black tights and a short plaid skirt with a pink and black peasant top and corset.

Urian moved to where Alexion stood off to the side, also staring at Ash as if Ash were a science experiment that had gone seriously wrong. For thousands of years, Alexion had been the only person Ash allowed in his home besides Simi. Of course that was out of profound guilt since Alexion had been Ias-one of the first Dark-Hunters Artemis created. Ash had managed to bring him back to a quasi-ghost existence by using his blood to keep Ias from being a Shade.

Too bad Savitar hadn't explained those powers to Ash sooner. It would have saved both him and Ias a lot of grief. But at least Ias wasn't in constant pain and misery.

'What's the deal with the bossman?' Urian asked him.

Alexion shrugged. 'I don't know. He came in last night with a book, went to his room to read, I suppose, and then he came out here this morning and has been playing… those songs ever since.'

Those songs were ballads, which Acheron never played. God-smack, Sex Pistols, TSOL, Judas Priest, but not…

'Is that…' Urian physically cringed before he spat out the name, 'Julio Iglesias?'

'Enrique.'