Both daemons had the bad sense to glance at each other again and smile, their twisted lips curling over stained teeth. And Thanatos figured that was as much relief as they deserved. He drew his sword and sliced through both their necks in one fell swoop.
Their decapitated heads dropped to the ground with a smack, followed by their twitching bodies, to land on the human hunters they’d planned to feast on only moments before.
Disgusted, Thanatos slid the sword back in his scabbard and turned to look around the decrepit cabin.
Things were not going at all as he’d planned. Now, not only did he have Atalanta breathing down his neck, but he didn’t even have a platoon in this region to command. He was going to have to hunt the Argonauts on his own. That or hightail it out of this forest for good and spend the rest of his life running.
Options swirled in his mind. Could he survive on his own? Atalanta would come after him. But he was smarter than the average daemon. And he still had his archdaemon powers. At least until she caught him. And killed him.
If only he’d figured out a way to get that damn disk from around her neck…
A sharp knock at the door of the cabin brought his head around. Followed by a voice. A soft female voice.
“Is anyone in there? I’m sorry to bother you, but I saw your light on. Hello?”
Thanatos drew in a deep breath and caught her scent. Yes, definitely female. And Argolean. And…special.
Now this was interesting…
“Hello?” She knocked again. “Is anyone there?”
How had someone of royal ancestry wandered into these woods? As questions swirled in his mind, a way out of this mess he’d created for himself condensed into a plan. A plan that didn’t involve Atalanta’s pendant but was just as good.
Without hesitation he jerked the door open. The female’s eyes grew wide with shock, and she opened her mouth to scream, yet no sound came out. When she turned to run, he easily grabbed her arm and stopped her.
The scream that finally tore from her chest reverberated through every cell in his body. His feral smile widened.
He pulled her inside the cabin with one easy yank. “We haven’t officially met, Princess. I’m the archdaemon. And right now, I’m your worst nightmare come true.”
Chapter Thirteen
Zander pushed himself up to his hands and knees and took a deep breath. Okay, this time he was pretty sure he could do it without…
Nope. There it went.
His head spun like he was on the mother of all benders. Sonofabitch. What the hell did she do to him? She was a healer, for crap’s sake.
The sound of heavy footfalls reached his ears, echoing down the long tunnel. For a second he held his breath and listened, then exhaled when he realized who it was.
Titus.
He’d know the sound of the Argonaut anywhere. They’d spent enough time together wandering backcountry and hunting daemons for Zander to pick Titus out based on his clod-stomper footsteps alone. Sure enough, the scents of pine and fresh blood wafted on the air, followed by Titus’s gravelly breath.
“Callia? I’m back.”
Zander eased back to rest on his heels but kept his head down. Man, when he saw her again…
“Z,” Titus said as he came around the corner, surprise in his voice. “You’re up.”
Zander focused on the rocks in his direct line of sight and worked on knocking back the motherfucking migraine.
Titus chuckled. “I woulda thought by now you’d be almost back to normal. Brother, you don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine.”
“Oh, yeah, I can see that.” Titus chuckled again, “By the way, you’re butt-ass naked.”
Zander thought about flipping Titus the bird, but that would take too much energy.
Titus’s feet shuffled on the rocks to Zander’s right. “Where’s Callia?”
“Gone.”
“Gone? Gone where?”
“Away, I guess.”
“Away? What the hell happened?”
“Nothing.” Zander pushed to stand, irritation fueling him, then had a moment of Oh, shit when the room spun. He reached out a hand to steady himself on the rock wall. “It’s none of your damn business anyway.”
“Tell me you at least sent her home.” When Zander didn’t answer, Titus added, “Zander. Tell me you fucking opened the portal and sent her back to Argolea.”
“I might have,” he mumbled. “But she didn’t give me a chance.”
“Fuck me,” Titus breathed. “You let her leave, in the middle of the night?” He pointed down the dark tunnel. “It’s twenty degrees out there. And snowing. Not to mention there are daemons roaming this area. You know she has to find holy ground to open the portal on her own. She’s not an Argonaut. She can’t open it from anywhere. And we’re on the top of a fucking mountain.”
“Wait.” One hand braced on the rock wall, Zander lifted his head. “You and Demetrius didn’t take care of the rest of those daemons?”
Titus ran a hand through his wavy dark hair, frustration radiating off him in waves. “By the time I found Demetrius, he was so bloody and banged up he could barely lift his parazonium. The two fuckers he was fighting didn’t look much better, and when they saw me, they bailed. I got Demetrius home, then came back for you and Callia. But sure as shit, those daemons didn’t get too far away.”
Skata. A rush of adrenaline speared Zander’s chest and spread beneath his ribs. He scanned the cave floor, seeing it clearly for the first time since he’d awoken and found Cal-lia leaning over him. He spotted fresh clothes—ones Titus must have hauled back when he’d brought Callia to heal him—and stooped to pull on the pants. “She can’t have gotten far.”
How long had she been gone? Ten minutes? Fifteen? Panic edged its way in. Shit, why had he let her leave?
“What the hell did you say to her, Zander?” Titus quickly checked his blade and shoved it back in its scabbard.
“Nothing. I…” He jerked on his shirt, dropped to the ground and shoved his feet into fresh boots as the conversation with Callia replayed through his mind. Every goddamn word of it.
“Fuck,” Titus whispered. “You dumb shit.”
Zander clenched his jaw and went back to lacing his boots. Rage pushed its way up his torso. Rage over Titus’s suddenly protective nature where Callia was concerned—who the hell did he think he was anyway?—and the way Callia had flat out lied to his face in this cave minutes ago. And about something so precious, so important too. But he fought it back, pushed it down, breathed deep so he could stay in control. Regardless of the things she’d done, he didn’t want her dead. And he needed Titus’s help right now if he was going to find her before she got herself into serious trouble.
He rose to his feet, threw on his jacket and lifted his bloody weapons from the ground. “Let’s just go fucking find her, all right?”
Zander took off at a jog down the darkened corridor, not caring about the supplies they’d left behind. Ahead, moonlight illuminated the opening of the cave and the snowflakes falling in a sea of white from the sky. At least two inches of fresh powder had accumulated recently, and there were tracks in the snow. Boot marks that had to be Titus’s from where he’d stepped through the portal right outside the cave, and smaller ones. Ones that were already filling in.
“There,” Zander said, pointing to what had to be Callia’s footprints leading away from the tunnel.
“She was running.” Titus squatted on his haunches, examining the tracks.
Zander frowned. Yeah, well, no shit, Sherlock. She’d wanted away from his ass as fast as possible, hadn’t she? He rubbed a hand over his temple, the lingering effects of the energy she’d so easily inflicted on him still hovering behind his skull.