Acheron

'Not until I have your word.'

'Oh I promise you, I won't touch your slut.'

He cringed at her words and their unspoken threat against Tory. 'And that you won't send anyone else after her either.'

She balked.

'Artemis?'

She pouted like a toddler who'd just broken her favorite doll. It wasn't until she realized that he wouldn't give in on this that she crossed her arms over her chest and spat, 'Fine. I swear your whore will never be hurt by me or any of my minions.'

He wrapped his hand around her neck. 'And I swear if you ever call her whore or slut or any other insult again, I will kill you. Do you understand me? Her name is Soteria and you will call her nothing else.'

Fear replaced the anger in her eyes. She knew he had no choice except to fulfill whatever oath he took. And right now the thought of killing her ranked right up there on his list of things he'd most like to do.

'I understand,' Artemis said coldly. 'Now prepare yourself for me, whore.'

Ash winced at words she knew hit him on a level no one should ever be hit on, and he hated her for that. In one heartbeat, they destroyed all the centuries of dignity he'd tried so desperately to build and reduced him to the little boy who'd pathetically begged his father not to hurt him.

Damn her for it. He didn't want to do this, but he knew he had no choice. His stomach was so tight with anger and disgust, he was amazed he wasn't vomiting from the sensation.

Last night was worth it.

No… Soteria is worth it. When she held him, he wasn't a whore. He wasn't pathetic or unwanted. For that moment of peace that he'd had in her arms, this was nothing.

He only hoped that once Artemis finished with him, he was still able to feel that way.

Sick with dread, he stepped back from her and dropped his long coat to the floor then pulled his shirt off over his head. Gods, it felt just like selling himself in his uncle's house all over again. All he needed was to have those gold bands back in place on his wrists and ankles and his tongue pierced. To have her grab his hair and tell him how to please her best.

He ran his hand over his chest where Simi slept. 'Simi? I need you to take human form.' If she were still on his skin when Artemis began beating him, she'd come off and attack the goddess. Since he'd promised total submission, he couldn't allow his girl to do that.

Simi appeared with a precious smile on her face until she realized where she was. Then her lips curled in repugnance. 'Why we here with that old heifer-goddess, akri? The Simi thought we were going to have fun again.'

'I know, Sim. I need you to leave me for a little while.'

Her nostrils flared angrily as her eyes turned dark red. She knew what happened to him whenever he made her leave here. 'Akri-'

'Just do it, Simi.' He looked past her to see Artemis glaring at them. 'I want you to go to Sanctuary and protect Soteria for me. Make sure no one hurts her.'

Simi turned and hissed at Artemis. 'I'll go protect Akra-Tory, akri. But the Simi don't want to leave you. I wish you'd let the Simi eat the heifer instead.'

Ash cupped her face and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. 'Go, Simi, and don't eat the humans or Weres.'

Simi nodded before she vanished.

Ash swallowed as he met Artemis's glower. An instant later his wrists were encircled by chains. They were pulled up and spread wide as a whip appeared in Artemis's hand. He let out a long breath as centuries of this went through him and he fought the anger that swelled inside his heart.

How could she do this and still claim to have feelings for him?

'You have betrayed me for the last time, Acheron.'

He laughed bitterly. 'I've betrayed you? When have you ever kept faith with me?'

She answered his question with a stinging backhand across his face that split his lip. Only now that he was secure could she strike him. She grabbed his hair, turning it instantly blond, and jerked his head back as hard as she could. 'I wish I'd never met you.'

'I assure you the feeling's more than mutual.'

Then she did the cruelest thing of all. She manifested a mirror before him and dressed him in the same chiton he'd worn when they met. Brushing the hair back from his neck, she blew her breath on his skin, knowing how much he hated it.

'This is what you're afraid of, isn't it? The entire world knowing what a whore you really are. Eleven thousand years later, you're still crawling into the bed of whoever can pay your fee. Tell me, Acheron, what did Soteria give you to sleep with her?'

He glared at her in the mirror and answered her with the truth. 'She bought me with the one thing you've never been able to manage, Artemis. Kindness. Warmth.'

She wrenched his hair so hard he was sure she pulled a full handful of it out. 'You bastard whore! I would have given you the world had you asked it of me, but instead you'd rather be in the bed of a common human.'

He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. 'You've never given me anything, Artemis, without making me pay dearly for it. Not even your heart.'

'That's not true. I bore your daughter for you!'

'No. You bore your daughter. You didn't keep Katra because of me. You kept her out of total selfishness and you know it. You never really intended for me to know I had her because you didn't want to share her with me or anyone else. You could have told me the truth at any time, yet you hid her from me for more than eleven thousand years.' He shook his head at a truth that scalded his soul. 'You're selfish and you're cold, and I'm tired of getting frostbite when I touch you.'

She brought the whip down across his back. Ash hissed as pain tore through him.

'I own you!' she shrieked.

Ash tightened his grip on the chains that held him in place. 'I won't be owned by you, Artemis. Not anymore. I shouldn't have to barter myself to you for kindness and I'm through with it.'

She hit him again. 'You would rather sell yourself to a human who can't understand you? She knows nothing of our powers. Nothing of what it means to be a god. The responsibility. The sacrifice.'

His breathing ragged, he stared at her in the mirror. 'And neither do you. Soteria doesn't ask me for anything. She gives, Artemis. No strings. No hidden agenda. She takes my hand in public and she holds it. She's not embarrassed to be seen with me.'

She jerked his head back and snarled in his ear. 'Because it costs her nothing to be seen with you! You ask too much of me. You always have.'

'Did it never occur to you that you ask the same of me? I've given to you for eleven thousand years and I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being ridiculed by you and your brother. I'm tired of taking your shit and dealing with your moods while you refuse to allow me the same courtesy. I want my freedom.'

After releasing his hair, she hit him three more times before she raked her nails painfully down his back. 'There is no freedom for you, whore. Ever.'

Tory smiled as she saw Simi walking up to the bar. She still remembered the first time she'd seen the demon, though at the time she'd thought Simi an average college age girl who'd made a great babysitter for her. It was hard to believe after all the phone and e-mail conversations they'd shared that Simi had failed to mention the one basic fact that she was a demon.

Then again…

But as Simi approached, she could tell something was wrong with her. 'What's wrong, Simi?'

'That old heifer bitch goddess is hurting akri again and akri won't let the Simi do anything to help him, but the Simi isn't supposed to say anything about what the bitch-goddess does so forget the Simi said anything.' She