Acheron watched Otto playing football in the backyard of Tristan's house with Billy and some of the younger boy's friends. He wondered for possibly the millionth time if he was making the right choice in assigning Otto to be Nick's Squire. Nick would need someone that could support him in more ways than just being a friend. He was still so new to the world of the Dark Hunters that it didn't seem fair to just throw him into it like this but if anyone could handle the change it would be Nick.
The trilling of his cell phone snapped him back to reality and he rolled his eyes as he reached for the oh so offensive device. If only he could have stopped the technology that had resulted in these blasted things. "Yeah?" he growled into the phone.
"Ash?" the tentative female voice on the other end wasn't one he recognized immediately.
"Yeah, who's this?"
"It's Kat, um Katra. Sorry to bother you but, well we might have a problem here." Ash didn't say anything for a while and only the sound of the activities around him let her know that he was still on the line. "You there?"
"Yeah, go ahead Kat, what's the problem?"
"Uh…well you're not going to like this one. They've almost found it."
She didn't need to explain to him what 'it' was. He knew. She was talking about Atlantis. Artemis had told him a few visits ago that there was a Greek doctor that had gotten pretty close to where the ruins of the city were but a little monkey wrench in his actions steered him away from it. Now, Kat explained, his daughter was on the trail and getting closer.
"I see. And what's being done about it?" Ash asked calmly. He knew that if anyone ever found the ruins of Atlantis it wouldn't matter if Alicia had the baby or not, Apollymi would be released and the world would come to an end.
"I was sent to stop it. I've been doing my best but this is one determined woman. Ash, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep her off the trail. Is there anything you can do about this?"
"Let me look into it, I'll get back to you." He said abruptly and hung up the phone. Swallowing loudly and pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose he tried to fight off the intense headache that was threatening to overwhelm him. "Savitar? You'd better not be ignoring me right now."
A few seconds later, the other man flashed himself into existence next to Ash. "You know I can't do anything here Ash," he said without preamble. Savitar had an uncanny way of knowing exactly what was going on in the mortal world even though he claimed not to care. "It's not my place to meddle in that little affair."
"Well, can you at least tell me if I'm going in the right direction?"
Savitar shook his head slowly, "Ash, buddy, you know I'd like to say what I feel, mainly because it involves my baby sister but I'm not allowed to. If the Fates decide that the psycho's going to escape there's not much I can do about it. I will however, say that chances are good that I'll get a chance to meet my niece or nephew. Now, I'm missing choice waves, so…." And with that he flashed himself back to his own realm.
"Damn it I hate it when he does that." Ash said to no one in particular. He reached for his phone and dialed Kat back. When she answered he asked her to try to stop the discovery in anyway that she could that wouldn't be immediately apparent. "You know paperwork could be your friend here," he hinted.
"Right, I'll do what I can."
"Keep me apprised will you?" he asked before hanging up the phone again.
&&&&&&&
Alicia felt like crap. She'd been having trouble sleeping for several nights now and it wasn't getting any better. She'd actually gotten to the point where she was ready to ask Carson to prescribe her something that would help her sleep and not hurt the baby. He laughed at her and told her that this was just something she'd have to get used to. After all once the baby was born she'd get even less sleep.
"I know that but this is killing me Carson. You've gotta be able to do something here."
"I can do something actually," he said smiling at her. "Get the hell out of here and go home. I don't need your whiney butt around here today so go try to relax will ya?"
"Fine, be a bastard will ya?" she groaned as she headed for the door. "Call me if you need me."
She drove home as quickly as she could without breaking any laws and parked her car in the small garage and climbed the stairs to her apartment. Once inside she threw the mail on the kitchen counter and wandered to the bedroom where she collapsed onto the bed. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself to sleep but so many thoughts were going through her head it was hard to concentrate on nothing.
Eventually sleep won out and she slipped into the void as her exhaustion took over. Soon though she fell into a dream and found herself walking along a beach that she didn't recognize. Marble columns littered the sand and she worked her way carefully between them. Something about this reminded her of someplace she'd seen before but she couldn't quite place it.
Walking on she felt a chilly breeze coming from in front of her and she shivered as it washed over her and lifted her hair off her shoulders. "Hello?" she called. Her voice was whipped away from her as if she'd never spoken.
"You dare to walk before me?" a malignant whisper danced around her like a ghost.
"Who's there? Where am I?" she called expecting no response.
An evil laughter echoed through the columns on the sand coming from everywhere at once and increasing in volume as it drew closer to her. The sound of it felt like a hot poker was being stabbed into her gut and Alicia doubled over on the sand. "I've found you little one. And you won't stop me." The laughter resumed, making her stomach throb in pain. "I will end you…"
Suddenly Alicia knew who's voice it was and she reached out to Xiovar with her mind. She couldn't feel his presence any more and she panicked as she tried to determine if Apollymi had done anything to the baby. She clutched at her stomach and felt nothing there but the pain that was still aching in her middle. "You can't hurt me," Alicia called around the pain and the echoing voice.
"Oh but I can little one," the voice slithered around her mind like a snake hunting a mouse. "I will drink your blood and destroy the world!"
The volume of the cackling of Apollymi's laughter became so painful that she knew if it didn't stop soon it would crush her. Trying desperately to reach out to find Ash's presence somewhere, anywhere, she sank to the sand as everything went black.
