"How could Acheron get such a soul?" she'd asked.
"Where do you think the medallions come from that he uses to restore a DarkHunter to his or her previous human state? Our mother is the keeper of souls." He had looked at Kyros. "The Greek word for 'Destroyer' is the Atlantean word for 'soul'. Your people made the assumption that Apollymi was a god of destruction, but in truth, she is a guardian of souls. My brother uses a demon to steal those souls from her whenever he needs one. He then returns the souls to a handful of you every so often so that the rest of you will continue to obey him. He knows you have to have hope in order to not turn on him and become disgusted with your existence and duties. It's why you must go to him whenever you want to be free. He does this whole 'I have to petition Artemis' bullshit when in truth what he has to do is break into our mother's temple and steal a new soul. Trust me, there is no Artemis to petition."
It all sounded so preposterous.
Truth is stranger than fiction…
That was true enough, and she couldn't get past the eyes. No one had those mystical, swirling silver eyes except for Acheron… and Stryker. They both had black hair, which Stryker had turned blond before her eyes.
"Why do you think you never see Acheron with blond hair? He's afraid that you'll see it and then you'll know him for the Daimon that he is."
Danger turned her car down the street to head home. Everything she had ever believed about the DarkHunter world and her place in it was now uncertain. She hated Kyros for that. As a human, she'd allowed one man to lie to her and destroy everything she held dear.
Had she allowed another man to do the same thing?
Just who could she trust? Who wasn't lying to her?
"Why didn't you have Stryker try to kill me for betraying you?" she'd asked Kyros after he told her that they knew she had called Acheron to report his questionable activities with the Daimons.
He'd laughed at her. "I wanted you to tell him. That's why I had my Squire tell your Squire about my going Rogue. Trust me, Danger," Kyros had said. "Acheron won't come here and face us himself. He'll be too afraid to."
Stryker had agreed. "He's right. You called Acheron because you were concerned about the fact that you'd heard Kyros was working with Daimons and not killing them. Now Acheron will send in his pawn to supposedly 'investigate.' The blond man will be someone claiming to be Acheron's Squire, even though everyone knows Acheron doesn't have one. Instead of a Squire, he's Acheron's assassin. You'll know him instantly. He'll show up wearing a white coat."
She had rolled her eyes at them. "White coat? Yeah, right. That's not only tacky, that's stupid."
"No," Kyros had said. "White is the Greek and Atlantean color for mourning."
Stryker nodded. "This so-called Squire is essentially Acheron's angel of death and he will kill all of you who know the truth about Acheron unless we kill both of them first."
Kill Acheron.
That had made her gut tighten to the point of pain.
Acheron had never been anything but friendly to her. He'd been the one who had come to her after she'd sold her soul to Artemis for vengeance against her husband. He had taught her how to fight and how to survive. Acheron had introduced her into this world with a great deal of care.
Or so it seemed.
"How do you know it was Artemis you sold your soul to?" Stryker had asked. "Acheron could pass off any redheaded bitch as the goddess and who would know? It's not like any of you have met her before or since the moment you sold your soul. Trust me. Artemis is long dead and the woman who comes to the DarkHunters is whatever whore Acheron is currently doing at the time."
But if Stryker was right, Acheron was behind it all. Acheron had designed them so that he would have his own army to fight the Daimons who were out to kill him for declaring war on them.
That just didn't seem like the Acheron she knew.
But then the Acheron she knew was extremely secretive to the point of being paranoid. No one knew anything at all about him. No one.
He wouldn't even give his true age when she asked it.
Then Kyros had disclosed the one bit that couldn't be argued with.
The piece of evidence that was the most damning…
"In all the centuries I have lived I've only known Acheron to have one friend—that New Orleans Squire Nick Gautier who used to serve Kyrian of Thrace before Kyrian became human again. Everyone, assumed that because of his friendship with Acheron, Nick was completely untouchable. Then a few months ago, out of the blue, some Daimon brutally kills Nick's mother and Nick vanishes without a trace never to be seen or heard from again. I know it was Acheron who did it, Danger. Nick must have found out about him and Ash killed them both to cover his tracks."
It was hard to refute that. Nick's disappearance had gone through their community like a death knell. He'd been well known and well liked for the most part.
And the way his mother had died…