Chapter 8
Danger headed to her room to put on a pair of old gray flannel pajamas. They were two sizes too big, just like she liked them, and thick and ratty enough to discourage any romantic notions Alexion might have.
If only they could protect her from such perilous thoughts. She'd gone way too long without sex herself so it was hard to have him here and not have illicit thoughts about that ripped body of his. Holy moley, did he have to look so damned good?
Get a grip.
"I should throw him out of here, consequences be damned," she said quietly as she exchanged her black shirt for the pajama top.
If only she could toss him out. With his powers, he'd most likely just poof himself right back into her house, say something snotty, then prowl around searching for his invisible friends. Ugh!
She jerked her top into place, then reached for her cell phone. She pressed the autodial for Acheron.
It rang for several minutes without an answer.
How weird. Acheron always answered on the first ring. She'd never had him not pick up the phone whenever she called.
"Great," she said at the phone. "You know, you could at least use voice mail. "
Sighing, she shut it off and finished dressing. Where could Acheron be?
Could he really be a Daimon?
Or should she trust Alexion?
A woman could lose her mind trying to sort this out. Not to mention that the last time she put her faith in a man, it not only killed her, but killed everyone she held dear in her heart.
Trust was for the stupid.
"I just need a break. "
A little time to think.
Grabbing a pillow, she headed down the hall to the stairway that led upstairs to her media room. There was no sign of Alexion anywhere.
Maybe that was a good thing.
Pausing by her wet bar, she opened the drawer and pulled out ajar of popcorn. She filled her air machine, then placed a bowl under it and switched it on. While it cooked, she grabbed a Coke from the fridge and went to start her current favorite movie, Troy.
Yeah, that was what she needed. Barely dressed men, romance gone bad. . .
It was right up her alley. She might not gain any great insight into what she should do with Alexion, but at least for a little while she would be distracted from a situation that seemed pretty hopeless.
Alexion let out an aggravated breath. There was still no communication to be had with Acheron, Artemis, or Simi. And he continued to have the sensation that someone was watching him.
"You know," he said out loud for their benefit. "It's time you cut the shit. Either show yourself or knock it off. "
The sensation stopped.
Alexion frowned. Hmm, that had been easy enough. He should have tried that in the beginning. "It better not be you screwing with me, Sim. If it is, I'm seriously unamused by it, and the next time you accidentally glue something to your wings, you can fix it yourself. "
Feeling somewhat better, he decided to find the Dark-Huntress and make sure she was okay. For all he knew, the sfora was now trained on her.
He used his senses to locate her upstairs. Closing his eyes, he flashed himself to the outside of the door. There was no need to scare her any more with his powers. He should act as normal as possible around her.
With that thought in mind, he opened the door to her media room to find her curled up on the padded dark green couch, watching the television. He cocked his head as he saw two ancient Greek armies on the large-screen plasma TV.
Danger felt the air stirring behind her. Turning her head, she saw Alexion watching her TV. There was a strange look on his handsome face. It was an odd mixture of pain, remorse, and longing. If she didn't know better, she might think he was homesick or something.
"You through prowling the house?" she asked him.
The familiar stony expression returned to his face. "Yes. They're gone now. " He moved a little closer to the couch while he continued to watch the screen curiously. "What is this?"
"Troy. "
He frowned as if that didn't make sense to him. Then sudden recognition lightened his face. "Oh," he said in a low tone. "Ilion. "
Now there was a term she hadn't heard since her days of studying classical Greek history as a girl in a convent school. It was then she realized something about her "guest. " "You're an ancient Greek, aren't you?"
He looked briefly startled by her question, but he quickly recovered himself. And true to form, he avoided answering her question. "Why are you watching this?"
She pointed to the scene where Brad Pitt as Achilles was lying naked on a pallet with two equally naked women. "That right there," she said with an appreciative note in her voice. "That is truly the finest butt on the planet. "
He scoffed. "That's not the finest butt on the planet. Trust me. "
She arched a brow at that. "So you're an expert on male butts, huh?"
His jaw dropped as he gave her an offended glare. "Hardly. "
Danger couldn't resist teasing him more. . . "Yeah, you're an ancient Greek all right. "
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She shrugged. "Well, we all know about you ancient Greeks. You were a friendly bunch with each other. Wrestling naked, groping each other's heinies. "
"We were not!" he snapped angrily.
Finally, she got some real emotion out of him. She was actually proud of herself.
And to be honest, she had to admit that she thoroughly enjoyed being on the teasing end for once. "Please, it's all over the history books. You guys were always shacking up with each other. Even Achilles was shacked up with Patroclus. Of course not in this movie, but in Homer's Iliad they were more than just friends. "
His green eyes flared in outrage. "Those were later Greeks. Not us. They gave all the rest of the city-states a bad name. "
"Then you admit you're Greek. "
His gaze narrowed as he realized she had tricked him into a confession.
"Oh, don't pop an aneurysm," she said playfully. "I won't tell anyone that you were once a Greek. Although why you would hide it, I can't imagine, since Greek Dark-Hunters are 'the thing' in our world. " She indicated the other end of her couch. "Have a seat, Mr. Cranky. "
He moved to perch uncomfortably on the arm of her couch as he went back to watching the movie.
Danger was more fascinated by him and the sadness that seemed to engulf him while he was transfixed by Hollywood's interpretation of his world. For the first time, there was something about him that almost seemed human. "Were you a soldier?"
He gave a subtle nod.
She glanced to the screen, then back at Alexion as she tried to imagine him in Greek armor. Most likely, he would have been a fine-looking warrior. He was lean and absolutely ripped. . . that kind of ripped that made a woman want to spend hours tasting his abs and pecs. And she realized that his shoulder-length blond hair would have been really sexy peeking out from the back of his helm.
It made her wonder how his butt would compare to Brad's. . .
His scowl returned. "Why, if they're supposed to be Greek, are all of them speaking with an English accent?"
She laughed. "Didn't you know that British is, like, the universal 'foreign' language in Hollywood? They use it in any movie where they want to have a foreign feel to it, regardless of where it's set. "
"But they're Greek. They should at least sound it. "
"I know, just go with it. "
He quieted down until they showed Brad confronting Brian Cox, who was playing King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks. "That's not Agamemnon," he said, making a face. "He wasn't that old. Clytemnestra killed him off long before he had a chance to go gray. "
Not wanting to encourage him to interrupt any more, she hid her laughter. "Would you just watch the movie?"
"But that didn't happen. They're making all this up. "
She tossed a pillow at him.
"Look, Chatty Cathy, I'm not interested in historical accuracy. If I was, I'd be reading the Iliad-"
"That wasn't accurate either. "
Danger paused as he gave her a clue to his real age. "Just how old are you?"
He scoffed. "Older than Ilion, obviously. "
"So did you teach Ash how to be vague or did he teach it to you?"
He tossed the pillow back at her, then returned his attention to the TV where Helen was entering the scene. "They never get Helen right, do they? Man, she was truly beautiful. You should have seen her. She had a laugh that sounded like angels singing. And her body. . . Well, it was no wonder they had to get all her suitors to swear that they wouldn't kill her husband out of sheer jealousy. "
Danger didn't comment. Scoping out other women wasn't her forte. Not to mention, she was turning a little green over his appreciation for a woman that had been dead for thousands of years.
"We can't all be Helen, now can we?"
She saw the "uh-oh" descend on his face as he realized what he'd just said. "You're beautiful too. "
"Yeah," she said sarcastically. "Save it, bud. Too little, too late. "
For once he was quiet.
At least until they got to the scene with Paris and Helen naked in Helen's bedroom. Alexion looked back at Danger. "So his butt has no appeal for you?"
Danger choked on her popcorn. Good Lord, the man had no couth. He'd ask her anything. She was never sure what might come flying out of his mouth next.
Coughing, she looked at him in disbelief.
"Not really," she answered once she could catch her breath again. "I'm not a big Orlando Bloom fan, unless he's playing Legolas in Lord of the Rings. Now Legolas is one elf I wouldn't toss out of my bed for eating crackers. I have to give the casting director credit. Whoever looked at him and thought, 'gorgeous blond elf,' definitely deserves an award of some kind. "
He indicated Eric Bana, who was playing Hector. "What about him?"
"He's okay, but not my taste. I'm not that attracted to brunets. I like blonds better, which is why I adore Orlando as Legolas and not Paris. "
There was no missing the spark of interest in his eyes. "That's good to know. "
Danger had no idea why she liked teasing a man she really should hate, and yet she couldn't seem to help herself. "Well, that information does you no good. "
"Why not? I'm blond. "
"Yes, but you're not human. " She looked back at the screen where Brad Pitt, as Achilles, was fighting with his cousin. "Then again neither is he," she said with a breathless sigh. "I swear, that man is a god. "
Alexion snorted. "He's not a god and that wasn't Achilles's cousin in real life. Not unless you make him a 'kissing' cousin if you catch my drift. "
"Drift? That was more like a typhoon, Mr. Suave, and you're not telling me anything I didn't know except for the Brad being a god part. There you're most definitely wrong. Just look at that body. "
"It does nothing for me. "
"Well, it should. "
He made a sound of disagreement. "I've seen better. "
She gave him an arch stare.
"Not like that," he snapped indignantly. "I mean. . . I never-"
"Give it up, Greek man. You've already drifted out to sea and are drowning fast. "
Alexion should have been angry and appalled by this turn in their conversation, but he strangely wasn't. It had been countless centuries since anyone had teased him like this. He had to give her credit, she was swift and intelligent.
He watched her as she ate the popcorn. "Why is that white?"
"How many questions are you going to ask me?"
"I was only curious. And given how many questions you've asked me, it's only fair that I return the favor. "
"Yeah, well, you don't have to do it in the middle of my movie. " She sighed as she raked her hand through the popcorn. "It's always white unless you put stuff on it. " She held the bowl out to him. "Want some?"
"There's no need. I can't taste it," he reminded her.
"It's air popped without butter or salt. There's not much to taste, but you can feel the texture of it, right?"
He supposed. Reaching out, he took a small handful and ate it. True to her prediction, it did feel odd in his mouth. It was crunchy and light. "Why do you eat this if it has no taste?"
"I like it. It's good for you. "
"You're immortal. Nothing foodwise is bad for you. "
She gave him a menacing glare. "Would you just watch the movie?"
Danger was a bit stunned when he shifted so that he could sit beside her on the couch. He also continued to eat her popcorn. It was really odd to have someone here with her. Not even Keller shared her late-night/early-morning movie. It was something she'd always done alone to unwind after her duties. There wasn't a great deal of Daimon activity in Tupelo. Most Dark-Hunters got rather testy when they weren't busy, but she kind of liked it.
So she spent many nights at home alone with her DVD collection or on the phone talking to other female Dark-Hunters. Her favorite ones to talk to were Ephani, who was a local Huntress and Zoe, who had just been moved to New York City. Both of them ancient Amazons, they had some interesting takes on how to treat men.
Most of which involved whips, chains, and handcuffs.
Alexion's hand collided with hers as they both reached into the bowl. She was still surprised by the coldness of it. No wonder he kept his coat on.
"Why are you so icy?" she asked.
"I'm cold?"
"Like a corpse. "
"Oh," he said, as if he really weren't aware of the fact that his body temperature would rival an ice cube's. "Well, I am dead. "
"So am I, but I have a pulse and some warmth. " Which gave her a strange idea. Taking his wrist into her hand, she realized that he didn't have a pulse.
She swallowed as he watched her. "Why don't you have a pulse?"
No sooner had the question left her lips than a heartbeat started. His skin actually warmed while she held on to it.
Dropping his hand, she shot to her feet. "That ain't right. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I didn't mean to offend you," he said honestly. "The only one who touches me is Simi and she's cold too. I didn't think about what my skin would feel like to you or I would have warmed it up first. "
She was completely confounded by his words. He could control his heartbeat and body temperature? That was unheard of. "How do you do that?"
"I think it and it happens. "
Danger sat back down and reached out to touch his face. It felt like any other man's face. Granted, his skin was warmer than before, but it still wasn't quite the temperature of a normal human.
His dark whiskers were rough against her palm, prickly, and it sent a foreign ache through her.
He closed his eyes as if savoring the feel of her hand on his skin. He turned his face ever so slightly in a gentle caress. When he opened his eyes, the deep-seated hunger in his gaze almost frightened her.
Before she realized what he was doing, he dipped his head and captured her lips.
Her first inclination was to pull back and slug him, but there was another part of her that sparked to his gentle kiss. And it was gentle. Tender. It was a lover's kiss and it set her blood on fire.
She could only barely remember the last time she'd slept with a man. One-night stands had never appealed to her. Well, that wasn't exactly true. For a brief time, when she had first become a Dark-Hunter and learned of her freedom from disease and pregnancy, she had explored her sexuality.
But that hadn't lasted long. Since Dark-Hunters were forbidden to develop romantic relationships, it left her with nothing but sex. And sex without some kind of mutual caring wasn't fulfilling to her.
She pulled back. "I'm not an easy lay, Alexion. "
He actually smiled a real smile at her. It was charming and unexpected. "I am. "
Shaking her head, she laug
hed at him. "Most men are. "
Alexion didn't respond to her comment. How could he while his body and lips were still burning from the sensation of her mouth on his? That woman had a tongue that set every fantasy in his mind alive. It made him wonder what else she did well along those lines. . .
"If you change your mind, Danger. . . "
"I won't. "
Damn. It was one of the reasons why he wished Acheron had sent him to a male Dark-Hunter. By now a man would have been on the prowl for a woman of his own which would have allowed Alexion ample time to find a bedmate for himself.
He somehow doubted Danger would be open to taking him out to get laid.
"I understand," he said to her.
Yeah, right. He might mentally understand, but his body wasn't listening. It wanted a taste of her so badly that it was all he could do to remain seated.
His celibacy was hard enough on him in Katoteros. On earth, it was unbearable. To be so close to a woman and not have her. . .
He actually whimpered.
"Are you all right?"
"Fine," he said, wishing a cold shower would work. But he was long past that. He'd been so long without a woman's touch that nothing except release would help him.
"So do you have any cheap friends?" he asked.
She gave him a disgusted glare. "You are a pig!"
"You go two hundred years without sex and see how you feel," he said defensively. "It's easy for you to sit there sanctimoniously while you condemn me, but you can have sex anytime you feel like it. All I have are the next few days. After that, I have to pray for a Dark-Hunter uprising to have another shot at a woman. Have you any idea how often those happen?"
"So you look forward to killing us?"
"No, but after a couple of hundred years, you do start having some radical thoughts. "
Danger stared at him in disbelief.
"And it would help if you had chosen a movie where people kept their clothes on. You know, Disney makes a damn good movie too. "
He was unbelievable! "I can't believe you're Ash's chosen whatever and all you can do is think of getting laid. You are such a man-slut! You don't even care who you sleep with. "
"That's not exactly true. I do have some standards. Granted, not many, but still. . . " He sucked his breath in sharply. "I'm so hard it's painful and when you consider the fact I don't really feel pain like a human does, that says a lot. " He actually pouted and that succeeded in making her feel sorry for him. But only a little.
"You're just having a really bad night, aren't you?"
"You have no idea. " He expelled a heavy sigh before he got up and headed for her hallway.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to walk around your house and try to think cold, disgusting thoughts. "
Danger didn't laugh until he'd left the room. Part of her really did feel for him. Then again, it'd been nearly that long since she'd last slept with someone. She just didn't like getting naked with a stranger. Like many other female Dark-Hunters, she wanted the one thing she could never have again-a relationship. That was the hardest part about their immortality. With the exception of the Amazons, who were born to never have a relationship with a man, the rest of the female hunters missed what they'd had as humans.
It actually bothered her some nights how much she missed her husband. Up until the moment he'd betrayed her, she had loved him more than anything else in the world. Michel had had that debonair charm that won over everyone he met. Unlike Alexion, her husband had never once placed his foot in his mouth.
But then, Alexion, according to his words, hadn't been around many people.
"Oh, don't do it, Danger. "
But it was too late. She was already getting up to go check on him.
She found him downstairs, holding one of her DVDs as if it were a foreign object.
"You okay?" she asked.
He nodded even though he was scowling. "What is this?"
"It's a DVD. That's what we were watching upstairs. "
"DVD?"
He didn't know what a DVD was? Was that even possible? "Yeah, isn't that how you watch movies at home?"
"No. They just play. "
She scowled at that. "What do you mean, they just play?"
He acted as if there were nothing unusual about his declaration. "Whenever Simi or Ash want to watch something, it just comes on. "
"Without a video?"
"Yes. "
Such a thing wasn't possible. "You mean you have streaming movies?"
"We have anything we want whenever we want it. At least I do if Simi's not there. She tends to be a movie hog when she's home. "
There was that name again. "Who is this Simi person you keep talking about?"
Alexion stood up. At first he wasn't going to answer, but there really wasn't any reason to keep it from her. It wasn't as though the information would cost him anything. "She's a cross between an adopted daughter and an annoying little sister. "
"And she lives with you and Acheron in his house that no one knows exists?"
"Yes. "
Danger was actually surprised she was getting something personal out of him. Hoping for more, she asked, "No one else ever comes to visit?"
"Only Artemis and Urian. "
Artemis she knew. "Urian?" Before he could respond, she answered for herself. "Wait. Let me guess. He's 'other. '"
"Yes. "
"Is Ash the only non 'other' there?"
His features immediately went blank, as if he were hiding something.
Danger caught herself before she gaped. "Are you telling me Ash is 'other' too?"
"I'm not saying anything about him. "
He didn't have to. His omission said it all. She wanted to ask more about what Ash and Simi were, but it had been futile enough tonight. She was rather tired of banging her head against the proverbial wall.
Sighing in defeat, she looked over at her plasma TV, which had had a miraculous recovery while she'd been upstairs. "Did you fix my TV?"
"It only seemed right since I was the one who broke it. "
She walked over to it to inspect it. Everything looked normal. As soon as she was in front of it, it came on.
Danger jumped, especially since its remote was lying on the bookshelf in front of her. "How did you do that?"
"Same way I always do it. " The television shut off.
She quickly moved away. Just how much power did this guy wield?
He moved to stand behind her. His presence there was disturbing to her well-being. She was more aware of him than she had ever been of any man before. There was something about him that was electrifying and magnetic.
"Don't be afraid of me, Danger," he whispered near her ear. Chills shot through her body. "Unless you threaten Acheron, I will never harm you. "
"No, you just intend to harm my friends. "
She felt him pick her braid up and hold it close to his face so that he could inhale her scent. "I really wish you wouldn't do that. "
"I know. " He set her hair down and moved even closer. His presence was overwhelming. Powerful. She could feel his desire to hold her.
Yet he refrained.
Alexion ground his teeth as he imagined what it would be like to pull her flush to his body. To reach around her and cup her breasts in his hands. It would be so easy to slide his hand underneath the waistband of her flannel pajamas. . . To brush his fingers through the triangle of hair between her legs so that he could stroke her. Touch her. Hear her moaning in his ear as her breath tickled his flesh.
He could already feel the slickness of her.
His mouth watered hungrily for a small taste. Carnal pleasure was the only thing that he could still experience as an immortal with the same degree that he had known as a human. It was why he craved it so much. There for a few minutes, he could forget his icy, lonely existence and feel truly human again.
He coul
d feel connected, almost wanted.
But she didn't want him.
His bitter loneliness tore through him, shredding his heart. It was ever his destiny to want and not have. In many ways, he was Tantalus. He could see what he wanted, but every time he'd ever dared to reach for it, something came along and took it away just as he grasped it.
Damn.
Grinding his teeth, he stepped away from her. He sensed her instant relief and that saddened him even more.
"So, do all the male Dark-Hunters pimp for you?"
He shook his head. "No. They just tend to frequent places where. . . shall we say. . . loose women congregate. " And normally those women threw themselves at him. It was a pity Danger didn't follow their actions.
"I'll bet they do. "
He ignored her dripping sarcasm. She had no idea how important such contact was to him. She interacted with other people nightly. He didn't. His only contact with the world was through the monitors and the sfora in Katoteros. It was cold and sterile.
Like me.
That was true enough. Every century seemed to get a little harder for him. Like Acheron, he lost more and more of his humanity. That was one of the reasons why it was so important for him to try and save Kyros. This was the first time in centuries that something had truly gotten to him.
He really did want to save his old friend.
But that would have to wait for now. He could already sense that dawn was about to break.
Danger looked to the window as if she sensed it as well. "It's getting late. I think I'll turn in. "
He nodded as she left him alone.
No sooner had she vanished from his sight, than he felt the prickly sensation of being watched again.
Alexion rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "I swear, Simi, if that is you messing with me, I won't lock up your credit cards next time. I'll shred them. "