Styxx (DH #33) (88 page)

Dionysus narrowed his gaze on him in disbelief. “Why do you still have it?”

“I was on a deserted island for the last eleven thousand years. Unless I wanted to screw a wild goat, there wasn’t a lot of use for it. And unlike you gods, screwing animals doesn’t appeal to me.”

Indignant, Dionysus straightened. “For the record, I never did that.”

Yeah, right. “Ampelos?”

“Satyrs are half human.”

Styxx let out a bitter laugh at Dionysus’s answer. “And why are they half human?”

“Fine, it was just the one time, and I was really tore up drunk when it happened, and Phobos dared me into it.”

One time? Really?

“Ismarius?” Styxx taunted with another famous reminder of the Olympian’s perversity.

“What are you? My effing biographer?”

Camulus laughed. “So the goat remark hit a little close to home, huh?”

“Shut up.” Dionysus turned back to Styxx. “If you don’t want her raped, why give her a potent aphrodisiac?”

Because you leave me with no choice. If I don’t do this, the other bastard will hurt her for real. Better to make her horny than have her violated by a pig.

But he knew better than to give them the real reason. “Mess with their heads. It will stress out Talon to know it was given to her, but most of all, it will send Acheron a potent message that I’m here, and it will upset him to a level you can’t even begin to imagine.”

“Why would he care?” Camulus asked.

“I’m the only one alive who knows all his secrets and every detail of his past. Trust me, he doesn’t want me to share any of it with his friends. Fear of what I might expose will paralyze him. And he’ll be after me with his thoughts so scrambled he won’t know if he’s coming or going.”

Dionysus glared at him. “This had better work.”

“Believe me. No one knows my twin better than I do. Now, we need to take her somewhere to give it to her then let them find her under its influence.”
And make damn sure Talon is the one who finds her and the Gallic pig keeps his hands to himself
.

Dionysus nodded. “I’ll get some Daimons to set up a distraction and to protect her until the Dark-Hunters get to her.”

*   *   *

A
fter returning Styxx
to the spartan hole that had been his home for centuries, Dionysus frowned at him. “You made this place?”

Nodding, Styxx hesitated in the doorway of his hut. “I originally had a stone cottage here, but after a few centuries, it crumbled to dust.”

“Couldn’t you fix it?”

He gave the Olympian a droll stare. “Too time intensive to find the stones and make mortar by hand. I was dropped here with no tools or any supplies. I had to make everything I needed to survive, including weapons and tools, and kill or gather whatever I ate and wore.” Had Styxx not been a war veteran who’d been forced to scrounge with his army when supplies ran low, and a boy whose father had demanded he work the hardest, most menial jobs he could find, he’d have been completely shit out of luck here.

Dionysus scowled. “I thought you had caretakers?”

A tic started in Styxx’s jaw at the memory. “For a little while people would bring some food, from time to time. Maybe a hundred years or so. Then never again.”

“How did you not go insane from the solitude?”

“Who says I didn’t?” Styxx glanced around and winced at the animal pelts on the sand floor where he’d slept for thousands of years. The stone tools he’d had to make to survive—something twice as hard as usual since his right hand had been left partially paralyzed from the Thracian attack on his return to Greece after the Atlantean war.

There had been nothing comfortable or comforting about his stark, harsh existence.

Had he not hated Acheron before Dionysus had freed him, he would definitely hate him now, having seen the luxury his brother had lived in all these centuries past. The friends who surrounded Acheron and loved him like family.

Styxx still didn’t understand how the selfish bastard couldn’t have bothered to check in on him. Just once. Brought him a burger.

One effing pillow or blanket. Really? Would that have been so much for Mr. Atlantean God?

Disgusted, Styxx went to his chest and picked it up. “I’m ready.”

“Yeah. I imagine you’ve seen enough of this place.”

You have no idea.
Styxx didn’t say anything, but he was glad Dionysus didn’t drag his feet leaving.

At least that was the thought until they returned to the hotel suite and Apollo was there, waiting for them.

What the hell?

A slow smile spread across the Olympian’s face as he saw Styxx, while Styxx’s stomach shrank with each additional heartbeat.

Camulus slid his gaze to Dionysus. “He came here looking for you. I hope you don’t mind. I told him to wait.”

That was what his mouth said, but Styxx could hear that Camulus had done it intentionally to get back at him. And all because of Styxx’s slip …

Damn it. He knew better than to ever expose a nerve to anyone, for any reason. Especially a vengeful god. Total misery and pain consumed every molecule of his body. Honestly, he’d rather be back on the island than subjected to that bastard’s custody.

He turned on Dionysus. “Our deal’s off. Send me back.”

Dionysus actually had pity in his eyes as he shook his head at Styxx. “It won’t matter. He knows you’re alive now. He can track you there the same way I did.”

Of course he could. And on that island, Styxx would be at Apollo’s mercy any time, day or night. It would be even worse than it’d been in Didymos.

Apollo wouldn’t have to worry about anyone disturbing them or …

Styxx slammed the chest down on the table. “I don’t give a fuck. I’m out.” He stormed to Sunshine’s room and opened the door.

Her eyes widened as soon as she saw him. Fury spurring him, he pulled out his knife and went to free her.

Roaring, Camulus shoved him away from the bed.

Styxx turned on him with a feral gleam in his eye. He’d had enough of them all. “Bring it, bitch!”

Camulus lunged at him and Styxx feinted to the left then shot back right and buried his dagger into the god’s side. The Gaul bellowed with fury.

Styxx caught him and flipped him to the floor. Camulus shot a bolt at him, but he dodged it and slammed Camulus’s head down to stun the older being.

“Stop!” Dionysus ordered.

Styxx ignored him.

“I’ll kill the woman if you don’t stop. I mean it, Styxx.”

He hesitated in debate. On the one hand, why should he care? But as he glanced at her and the terror in her dark eyes, he knew he couldn’t hurt her. He’d seen too many innocents pay. Even though he didn’t know her at all, he didn’t want her or Talon to live with the nightmares he knew so intimately.

No one should bury his wife …

Never mind do it twice in one lifetime.

Furious, Styxx drove the knife into the floor next to Camulus’s head then got up and left the room.

“I should have let him kill you,” Dionysus sneered to Camulus, unaware that Styxx could hear them.

“I didn’t know he could do that.”

Apollo laughed. “You have no idea. For a human, he has incredible skills … in more than one event.”

“Stop it!” Dionysus snapped at his brother. “Haven’t you tormented him enough? Really?”

Styxx grabbed his coat and left the hotel. He had no destination in mind, he just had to get some fresh air as a thousand emotions ripped him apart. He should have known better than to agree to this.

The gods always screwed him.

One way or another.

I just want out.
Was it not time for his torment to end? Really? How much more could they put him through?

Unable to stand it, he headed down Canal, toward the river. There were groups of people laughing all around him in carefree abandon. How he wished he could be one of them. But he’d never been free to hang out with friends and party. His whole human life had been nothing but responsibility.

Duty.

And he’d failed everyone he’d ever loved.

He pulled the sleeve of his jacket and shirt back so that he could touch the names of his wife and son. If he closed his eyes, he could sometimes catch a whiff of Bethany’s scent from the bowels of his memory. But what he hated was the fact that he couldn’t remember the sound of her voice anymore. He could remember inflections of it as she said his name or laughed. Yet not the exact sound.

She’d left him entirely.

I can’t take another day of this.…

And yet there was no way out. None. Strange how as a child forever had seemed like a long time, but it wasn’t until you lived it that you fully grasped the horror of eternity.

The magnitude.

The insanity.

Although the Dark-Hunters he’d spoken to seemed to have adapted to the concept. As had his brother. But then, they weren’t alone. They had a brotherhood where they looked out for each other.

The only one of the Dark-Hunters who seemed to even remotely understand Styxx’s pain was the one named Zarek. In his dark, tortured eyes, Styxx had recognized a kindred spirit.

Styxx paused along the walkway that ran parallel to the river and leaned against the steel rail. His gaze dropped to the two clear plastic cups someone had carelessly tossed over the railing.

Discarded garbage …

Like him.

At home in Didymos and on the island in Hades, the water had always been the most luscious shade of clear turquoise. Here it was a murky greenish-brown. Still, it reminded him of the sounds of home on hot summer nights when he’d slept with all the windows open and listened to the sea outside.

There was a child screaming behind him while an irate mother tried to soothe her, and was fast losing patience with the girl. He glanced at them over his shoulder. The woman had no idea just how lucky she was to have that child with her. But he wouldn’t pass judgment on her for her irritation. His father had been perpetually annoyed with him, and maybe if he’d been blessed enough to raise his son, he’d have been the same with Galen.

But he couldn’t imagine ever being cross with his child, for any reason.

If only I could have held him.

Just once.

Sighing, he gripped the rail and tried to calm the rage and grief inside him as seagulls cried out over his head, temporarily drowning out the sound of Zydeco and people in the background.

“Styxx?”

Silently, he cursed at the sound of Dionysus’s voice calling out to him. He didn’t say a word until the god came to stand by his side.

“You promised me an end to my hell,” Styxx whispered.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Dionysus didn’t care any more about Styxx than anyone else did. He was nothing to the god and he knew it.

Dionysus turned so that he could lean back against the railing and face Styxx. “Yes, I am. For everything. Believe it or not, even the gods can have remorse. I should have never shown you to Apollo. I was young and stupid. Trying to impress my big brother. It wasn’t until I was cast into this putrid world that I began to fully understand the consequences of what we do … what we did.”

“And yet you want to take it over. Rule it all again.”

“I don’t like being a pawn any more than you do. I’ve choked on my pride long enough. Like you, I want out.”

Styxx snorted. “We’re not friends or women. Why are you talking to me?”

“Because we need you to kill Acheron. You’re the only one who can get close enough to him to do it. There’s just a handful of days left to Mardi Gras. Help me finish this and you won’t have to worry about Apollo. I’ll make sure he stays away from you until then, and once you’re dead…”

Styxx pushed himself away from the rail. “I better be dead, Dionysus. If not, yours is the first ass I’ll be coming after.” He headed back to the hotel with Dionysus trailing him the whole way. “If you’re banned from Olympus, how were you able to free me?”

“Hades isn’t part of Olympus. I wasn’t banned from his domain.”

That made sense.

Styxx held the door open and let Dionysus lead the way to the elevator. “I want full control of the woman. If Camulus goes near her again, I will gut him.”

“I think he might have figured that out.”

“I doubt it. He’s even slower to learn than I am.” Styxx stepped out of the elevator and headed back to the suite where Apollo and Camulus waited.

Dionysus cornered his brother without a word while Styxx grabbed a bottle of wine and went to his chest on the table. He mixed the wine with a very small amount of the Eycharistisi. As he worked, he felt Apollo’s eyes on him to the point it made the hair at the back of his neck rise.

Glancing up, he caught the lecherous leer on Apollo’s face, and it ignited his temper.

I hate you.

Doing his best to ignore him, Styxx poured the mixture into the thermos Dionysus had provided then handed it to the god of wine. “We’re ready. I’ll get the woman.”

Camulus started to protest, but Dionysus stopped him.

Styxx’s fury doubled as he saw Sunshine tied down again on the bed. Gods, he couldn’t stand it. Grinding his teeth, he cut her free.

She immediately ran at him and shoved him back. Stunned, he didn’t react for several heartbeats. But then he bolted to catch her before she could open the door where Camulus waited.

“Stop!” he snarled in her ear. “It’s me or them, and believe me, you don’t want them to touch you.”

That made her fight even harder.

“Stop it!” he repeated. “I’m not going to rape you.”

She tried to speak through her gag.

No doubt he should remove it, but knowing her, she’d scream. “Just calm down and everything will be fine.” Taking her arm, he led her to the others.

Immediately, Dionysus flashed them from the hotel to an old, run-down warehouse of some kind. There were large paned windows, many of which had boards over them.

Using his powers, Dionysus conjured a small bed for the woman. Styxx pulled the gag from her lips as Dionysus unscrewed the Thermos lid. “I need you to drink this.”

“You drink it, you bastard!” She ran for the door.