As soon as Savine fell asleep in his arms, Ash flashed them to his realm, Katoteros. The familiar interior of his large bedroom materialized around them.
He was only doing this so he could deal with the other mortal he left behind in the alleyway. He needed to get the other mortal to a hospital.
Ash carefully lifted Savine up, bridal style and carried her over to his unmade bed. He briefly wondered if the sheets were clean and he magically changed them for new black silk sheets before he laid her down.
She will be safe here. He just hoped Artemis decided to not visit him today.
He placed Savine under a dreamless like slumber so her mind could forget what she just witnessed in the alleyway. But Ash still felt like apologizing for what happened.
Savine did not belong in his world and that was going to stay that way… if he could help it.
It was then he realised how much of a mistake it was to place Savine in his bed. She made the mundane object look incredibly enticing for the first time in eleven thousand years.
It was then that he realised that this was the second time; he knocked her out due to unforeseen circumstances. She made a good rendition of sleeping beauty.
He watched Savine curl around one of his pillows and he foolishly wished, he were that pillow instead. She looked quite comfortable but her attire didn't suit the occasion at all, so Ash brought it upon himself to transfigure her clothes into beige coloured pajamas.
That was much better, he thought but he still cringed at the state of her feet. They were filthy from walking on the street and he wanted to clean them but knew he couldn't. Savine would remember that she walked barefoot.
It was then that he begrudgingly left Savine's side to deal with the daimon mess he left behind in Nashville.
"Akri, is that you?"
Danger was stretching in the gym room and minding her own business when she heard the telltale shrill of an overexcited Charonte demon.
"Akri has a woman in his bed! Akri finally has a lover that is not the heifer goddess! Xirena! Xirena! Come, look and help the Simi take measurements! The Simi needs to buy the human sparkles!"
Danger immediately stopped what she was doing and went to investigate. Her husband, Alexion and Ash's second in command, met her in the vast hallway.
"Did I just hear Simi shout about a woman in Ash's bed?" He blurted in disbelief and marked the book, he was reading in the study.
"Has she eaten plastic, again?" Danger wondered. "You know how she gets on that stuff. She hallucinates."
"The Simi has an Akra!" Both shades heard Simi exclaim again and they shared an uneasy look before they took off as one for Ash's bedroom.
When they arrived, they both couldn't believe what they saw. There was indeed a woman in Ash's bed and she continued to sleep, undisturbed while Simi measured her arms and legs with a tape measure.
Xirena, Simi's older sister and Alexion's Charonte demon just stood idily by, looking bored while she wrote down measurements for Simi.
"Her feet are a size 40!" Simi exclaimed with a flutter of her large black and red wings.
"She is not getting my boots, Sims," Xirena grumbled and Simi gave her sister a 'duh' look.
"The Simi only uses the plastic cards to get things. The Simi does not steal. Akri says that's illegal and wants Simi to act legal," Simi outlined strongly before she moved to measure, Savine's long black hair.
The demon then looked disappointed when she analyzed her head closer.
"She does not have hornrays," Simi sulked before lighting up with a grin. "The Simi will buy her some and they will match the Simi's!"
"Or, you could ask materisa to give her a pair," Xirena recommended and Simi beamed in excitement. That was when Alexion snapped into action.
"No one is asking Apollymi to give her horns… or fangs," Alexion outlined and Simi crossed her arms, not looking pleased. Xirena simply nodded and followed her master's instructions.
"Lexi is not the boss of Simi!" Simi narrowed her red eyes on him.
Meanwhile, their whole exchange fell on deaf ears when it came to Danger. She just couldn't believe it. The woman looked like the spitting image of her old friend from the theatre in the seventeen hundreds in France… Sabine.
In fact, the woman was her reincarnation and of several others. It was only because, Danger walked between life and death as a shade that she could see this.
Beneath the woman's skin, she saw faint tendrils of all the lives she lived before and there were a lot. Danger counted eight.
"Sabine?" Danger breathed and she started to mumble about impossible things happening in rapid French. Alexion looked at her in alarm.
"Do you recognize this woman?"
"Oui…" Danger swallowed hard before she approached Savine's sleeping side for a closer look. The resemblance was uncanny. Alexion approached her side and used his enhanced abilities to try to see what caught Danger's eye and what he saw stilled him.
"Impossible," he blurted. This woman was on her ninth reincarnation but for what purpose?
Reincarnations only happened twice in his experience.
"She was an actress with me in the late 1700s," Danger said.
"In this life, her name is Savine Taylor and she might be a thief."
Danger and Alexion turned towards Ash as one when he entered the room and he didn't look pleased one bit to find them there.
The only thing that stopped him from hightailing it out of there with Savine was due to the new information his ex-darkhunter presented.
As a precaution, Alexion ordered Xirena to return to him and she followed his orders without a second thought.
"Akra was an actress?" Simi beamed and Ash calmly approached his demon daughter's side. He raised his eyebrows at the tape measure she was holding, though.
"Simikey… what are you doing?"
Simi grinned. "Simi is going buy Akra clothes and hornrays so she can match the Simi and Akri!"
Ash stilled at her words but at the same time, he didn't have the heart to tell Simi that Savine wasn't going to stay and that she wasn't actually her Akra. His demon was particularly gleaming in delight and he never had it in him to snuff out that emotion in her unless she wanted to eat something that she shouldn't be eating.
"Okay, Simi," he reached for his wallet and pulled out more credit cards. Simi cheered at the sight of them.
"Just don't eat her, Simi and do not tell her anything about the magical world. Savine doesn't know about our world," he ordered as an afterthought. Simi's face fell a little at her new instructions. She briefly wondered why he would order such a thing but then thought against it. Her Akri always knew what was best to do.
"Can the Simi buy Akra barbeque sauce?" She wondered and Ash passed her the credit cards with a nod. He had no idea how he was going to explain that one. Maybe, he'll just leave the sauce to be used in the kitchens at Sanctuary.
Simi squealed when he passed her the cards and she quickly pecked his cheek and ran out of the room. That would keep his demon busy for a couple of days, Ash figured.
"Spoiled rotten demon," Alexion grumbled and Ash chose to ignore that remark. Instead, he arched a dark eyebrow at his second in command.
"If I knew you two made a habit of sneaking into my room, I would've installed an electric gate."
The threat might not be clear but it was there and Alexion shot his wife a meaningful look to tread carefully. His boss hated it whenever someone meddled in his personal affairs.
"Acheron –
"Just don't make a habit of it," Ash warned and he went to check on Savine closely. She was still sleeping away looking peaceful. He quickly checked her temperature by touching her forehead and she felt a little cold so he pulled a blanket up. That was much better.
"So," Ash turned his attention back to Danger. "Savine is a reincarnation of your late friend Sabine?"
Danger nodded and Ash glanced back at Savine. That still didn't explain why he couldn't see anything about the human.
"And many others," Danger added and Ash wheeled back around. "Explain," he ordered and Danger reached for Alexion's hand in comfort. Ash couldn't blame her, ever since he crossed Savine, his aura has felt unstable as of late.
"This is her ninth life, Acheron," Danger finally answered and Ash went rock solid but the disbelief on his face said it all.
No one was reincarnated this many times unless they were cursed and he turned to stare at Savine in a new light.
"Can you see who she was before?" He demanded the couple and they both shook their heads.
"It is like she is a matryoshka doll," Alexion indicated. In other words, hard to differentiate unless her past was pulled apart, one by one.
"Well… that explains it."
"Pardon?" Alexion questioned and Ash sighed. He then didn't see the harm in telling them everything he had learned about Savine so far.
"I am blind to her fate."
Alexion instantly froze and Ash laughed darkly at his reaction.
"I'm one lucky bastard," he grimaced.
"What do we need to do?" Danger asked, looking worried. Ash just shrugged. "Return her I guess and avoid her as much as possible."
"Which you have not been doing," an unknown voice suddenly hissed their way and the three beings went on full alert but they didn't see any intruders.
Ash quickly stretched out with his powers and he probed the air around his room until he felt something move to his left. He quickly struck out with his left hand and grabbed whoever it was around their invisible neck. A blast of power propelled him back and he quickly shielded. A goddess was in their mist and it was not Artemis.
Ash quickly conjured a godblot in his hands and his eyes bled a molten red. If there was one thing he hated more than Artemis then it was the gods. Any god.
"Reveal yourself or it will be the last thing you do," he growled and the goddess did but not in a way he expected. Savitar rocked up and he nudged her out of her invisible bubble.
Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess of war, hissed at Savitar with her golden cat eyes. Two catlike ears poked out of her mane of black hair and her skin was a dark ebony. The goddess wore a traditional white dress with an assortment of golden bangles on her arms.
"Always meddling where you are not wanted," Bastet scowled and Savitar just meowed her way. Bastet moved to claw him but Savitar easily shrugged off her attack by paralyzing her everywhere except for her head.
"Now, that's a good kitty," he smirked before he met the interested red eyes of Acheron.
"You're welcome." Ash rolled his eyes at his old mentor.
"Return my daughter at once!" Bastet suddenly screamed at them both. "She has no part in this!"
Savitar laughed at that one. "Says the goddess that turned up uninvited in a Atlantean realm."
"There is no way in hell that I am staying away and letting anyone ruin my daughter's last life as a human!" Bastet relented and Ash glared at Savine's sleeping form. She was a demigoddess?
"Nah, grom. You got yourself a fully fledged goddess right there, well… nearly." Savitar caught wind of his thoughts and quickly corrected him. "I did warn you," he indicated.
"Thanks," Ash bit out sarcastically.
"No problem," Savitar folded his arms.
"Release me!" Bastet screeched and Savitar glared her down.
"You landed yourself this mess when you rocked up here, Bastet. You should know better," he scolded the goddess and Bastet surprisingly shot Ash, the filthiest of looks.
"Stay away from my daughter," she growled.
"Your son, too?" Ash threw out on a wild guess and the darkening of the goddess's face was all the answer he needed.
"Matisera!" He called out to his mother to appear. At this point, he was more than done with trying to get answers from Savitar.
Savitar looked disappointed at Ash.
"Seriously?"
Apollymi appeared in her ghost form and she didn't look pleased at all. Her swirling silver eyes frowned darkly at Bastet.
"You shouldn't be here," Apollymi snarled and if looks could kill, Bastet would've slaughtered them all. But before she could mouth a sound, Ash called for silence with a threatening look of his own. He took off his sunglasses and glared them all down with frightening blood red eyes.
"That is enough!" He relented and he rubbed his face in frustration. He felt his mother near his side in visible concern but he quickly stepped away to maintain his space.
Alexion and Danger gave him a wide breadth as he moved to stand guard over Savine. He took in her beautiful face one more time and it was like his body grew unattached to his brain. There was a crease in the bed sheets near Savine's chin and he didn't like the look of it so he gently straightened it out.
Savitar cringed at the caring but innocent display and cursed in a dozen languages. Apollymi immediately scolded him but not Bastet. She looked like she wanted to claw Ash's face off.
"So…" Ash started to put his words together. "I take it, Savine and her brother pissed off some god in a previous life?"
It was the only explanation he could think of to explain why the two were cursed to live out nine mortal reincarnations.
"Eh, wrong," Savitar folded his arms and Ash skimmed over him to glance at his mother. His desperation for answers said it all in his gaze and Apollymi's ghostly features softened.
"Ra cursed them to live out nine mortal lives as punishment for Bastet's infidelity in her marriage to Anubis. Zeus is their father."
Ash's eyes widened at that revelation and he took a little step away from Savine's sleeping side. He hated that Great God of Olympus just as much as the fates and to find out that Savine was related to that god and was Artemis's sister by relation as well, made him feel a bit ill.
"After their ninth life as a mortal, their godhood will be restored and they will take their rightful places in the Greek and Egyptian pantheons as the true gods of the sun and moon," Apollymi added with a pleased look. She, personally couldn't wait to see that day come because it meant the end of Artemis and Apollo.
Alexion and Danger gasped silently at that bit of information and Ash felt a headache coming along. There was no way that he didn't connect those dots in that moment.
"If they are destined to become that… then how are they still alive?" he breathed.
Artemis and Apollo would've annihilated the pair centuries ago. It was Bastet who answered him this time.
"I made a deal with Apollymi," Bastet muttered with forlorn eyes. "The fates foresaw that future when I was pregnant and Zeus ordered their deaths to keep the peace but I couldn't let that happen so I went to Apollymi to hide them. I heard how she did a similar thing with you."
Ash clenched his jaw at the slight mention of his dark past and Apollymi threw Bastet a filthy look for it.
"That was when Ra caught wind of my plans and cursed my babies so for extra protection, I made it so that no one could remember them when they died." Bastet's eyes then flashed over to Alexion and Danger. "Unfortunately, I did not include shades in that equation, considering they are meant to stay dead," she hissed. Alexion and Danger unconsciously went into standby mode for battle at the goddess's unspoken threat.
The shit had definitely hit the fan and now it was splattered everywhere.
"Well… fuck," Ash could only say and Savitar picked that moment to near his side to clap him on the back.
"You got that right, Grom."
Ash shrugged off his arm and surprised the entire room when he picked up Savine.
"Ah… Grom, what are you doing?" Savitar cocked an eyebrow.
Ash just ignored him and transfigured Savine's beige pyjamas back into the clothes he found her in. He forced his eyes to swirl back to their natural silver.
"As you said before Savitar, only through my own actions will I be saved and now that includes the fate of the entire universe which I am now holding," Ash muttered while still staring down at Savine.
Protecting the universe was what he did best and all that he knew.
He would protect Savine for now and deal with her destiny when the time came.
She was still human and he protected mankind that was his job.
Ash glanced towards Bastet and held her golden gaze.
"Your daughter will be protected," he promised and Bastet surprisingly lowered her head in gratitude and surrender, he sensed. Savitar instantly lifted his hold on the goddess and she gratefully moved.
"Keep her mortal form away from danger and our world as much as possible, Atlantean," Bastet pleaded and she took her leave after a solemn nod from Ash. Savitar took his leave too after giving him a 'thumb's up' in support. Ash just shook his head while he glanced at his mother.
"Do I need to know about the deal you've made with Bastet?" He holstered Savine more securely in his arms and Apollymi simply shook her head.
"She has already upheld her end of the deal."
Ash didn't believe her one bit. She was the Destroyer, after all and whatever the deal was, he hoped it wasn't too bad.
After he bid his mother, Alexion and Danger farewell, it didn't take Ash long to return to the alleyway with Savine and when he did, he slowly coaxed her out of her dreamless slumber.
The other mortal was long gone and delivered safely to the nearby hospital.
Savine was still too tired and drunk to walk properly and she needed his help to walk back to the road so he could hail a taxi to take her back to the hotel she was staying at with Xander. He had to keep up the pretenses of normalcy. She was a lot easier to work with in this state and she calmly followed his suggestions to get into the taxi.
She also grew quite cuddly while they rode in the taxi to Ash's surprise. She used his arm as a pillow and he didn't push her away. He didn't want too which was strange considering what he now knew about the thief.
By the time they made it to her hotel, Savine was fast asleep again and Ash didn't have the heart to wake her up. He simply paid the taxi driver and gently lifted Savine out of the car. She gripped his grey hoodie and burrowed her face into his chest with a contented sigh. The aging doorman opened the door for them and complimented him on how well he was taking care of his lady.
Ash didn't correct him and it perplexed him further but at the same time, it didn't surprise him. The deepest parts of him, the parts where no one could ever touch but him, felt content with pretending in that moment.
For once, he was not a god with an endless list of responsibilities. He was simply a man, putting a beautiful woman who drank too much to bed. The elevator ride ended sooner than he liked and he was knocking on Savine's room door before he realised it.
Xander answered it and the man looked utterly relieved to see him. He thanked him profusely for finding her and directed him to put Savine in her bed. She woke up in a daze then and looked for water. Xander helped her take a few sips and he ran to the bathroom to wet some towels. He gently cleaned her face and feet. He then passed her a large shirt to change into before they left her alone.
Then to his surprise, Xander asked him to stay in the room to watch over her while he ducked out for a bit.
The deep parts of him that wanted to prolong the pretending said yes.
Ash watched late night television and dozed a little on the couch. His phone rang once or twice with concerns from Darkhunters until he got fed up and directed the calls to Alexion to deal with. He needed a mental break and he did for a couple of hours.
Until he heard the distinct sound of a key hitting the wooden floor and his gaze flew to Savine's bedroom door that wasn't locking her in anymore.
The little minx had picked it just like Xander said she would and just like that, he got his confirmation that Savine was a thief.
Ash watched the lock magically turn to the side and the doorknob turned. Savine peeked through the little gap in the door with her catlike green eyes and the way she crawled her way into the lounge area was catlike too.
By noticing those small things, it was no wonder her mother was the Egyptian goddess of cats.
Ash tsked at the small flask he spotted her holding. The little minx was already still quite drunk when he brought her back a few hours ago.
"Did Xander ask you to babysit me?" Savine slurred at him with a cheeky smile and Ash sat up straight in his chair when Savine started to crawl her way towards his boots. Just like that, their ordeal in the alleyway was completely forgotten on her end and she thankfully left her flask behind.
Savine's body moved like water and she looked seductive without really trying. All she had on was an oversized blue shirt with matching socks. Ash doubted that she crawled to intentionally seduce him.
May Aphrodite have mercy on him.
"Just until you sober up, he'll be back soon," Ash forced out and with a sudden giggle, Savine changed directions. She started to crawl towards the door and she was thinking of escaping.
She was definitely the daughter of Zeus. She was just as cunning like the ancient god.
But lucky for him, Savine didn't know that yet and he easily moved to stop her escape attempt. She squealed when he easily picked her up and she burrowed her face into his chest.
"You smell so good," She slurred while he gently carried her back to bed and it strangely felt good to have her back in his arms.
Ash gently sat her down and guided her body to lie down again.
"Stay," he ordered and took his leave but he didn't bother to lock her bedroom door. There was no way she could sneak past him and the little minx slowly learned that.
She came crawling back into the lounge area with another cheeky smile.
"Savine," he warned, trying to hold back a smile at how ridiculous she was acting. He was used to the Savine that avoided him not this playful one.
She giggled when he started to chase her around the living room and she squealed when he caught her again only to put her back to bed. She played this game of cat and mouse with him a few more times and Ash strangely found it fun to play around like this. He never did this when he was a kid. Savine played around until she slowly started to understand that she wasn't going anywhere and she started to show signs of tiredness once more.
