(I realise that Acheron's book has just been released but all my Dark-Hunter/ Were-Hunter fanfics are all pre-Ash's book)

Fury stared for longer then was appropriate when he had heard the name, 'Chrissy.' It was like something prickling at the back of his memory, he knew it should make a connection but to what? It was like the ringing of a faraway church bell, you lose the sound as its pitch weaves in and out of the everyday noises, but you know its there; catching its melodious tune as it reverberates through the sounds of traffic and life.

Fury watched Blaze pull the dress from her sister's hand that had appeared from behind the curtain, the dress hung tantalisingly from her slim fingers, her long forearm naked before her, just as teasing as the dress had been, when the curtain concealed the flesh just before it got to an exposed shoulder.

"We'll take this," Blaze said dumping the dress on the counter, Fury cleared his throat dragging his gaze from the curtain, that the arm had disappointingly withdrawn behind, and had set it swaying enticingly. Fury wasn't as good at the whole customer service as Bride, or even Vane for that matter. He had little, well scrap that, no people skills. Hell, yeah he could be nice for all of five minutes and then he usually said the wrong thing, or the worst thing you could possibly say to that particular person and it was downhill from there. And it had never bothered him, in fact he revelled in his ability to piss people off, but this time was … different.

"That will be …. 150," Fury said checking the label, hoping she didn't want it gift wrapped or anything, his eyes strayed to the curtain, she would most likely be getting dressed.

"150 what?" Blaze asked genuinely puzzled, Fury let his eyes swing back to her and arched a gorgeous brow.

"Dollars."

"Oh yes, right …" Blaze took her purse from her bag and seemed confused, she fiddled lightly with her small thin gold necklace. "Would that be the coins, or the, err, paper sheets?"

"What?" Both of Fury's eyebrows were raised, what was with this chick and he let out one of his quaint little sayings, that were likely to offend women. "Are you drunk?"

Though he didn't smell booze from her.

"Blaze!" Charisma had appeared from behind the curtain, dressed back in her casual clothes once again, Fury noted that her tone was unusually sharp. She moved swiftly to her sisters side at the counter and took the dress and the purse from her hands and turned an apologetic smile on Fury who felt like he had taken a knock to the head when faced with its brightness.

"Sorry, we're not from this country," Charisma muttered, her cheeks glowing crimson, Fury was enchanted.

"That's okay, I had trouble with it myself when I first came here."

"Your not from here?"

"No, I was born in England," he couldn't understand why he was telling her this, but he smelt trust from her, a sincere interest in him. Her scent was one of truth and purity, he felt like he was standing under the brightest sun after many years in the dark. He wasn't using that as some dramatic metaphor, she was invigorating and refreshing.

"England." She tested the name out on her tongue, elongating the 'En' syllable. "Don't they have different accents in England?"

Fury was once again struck by the feeling that this beautiful woman wasn't all she seemed. "Err, yeah. Yes they do. But I lost mine."

"What a shame," she commented, her eyes eloquent in her sincerity; she seemed to honestly regret the loss of his home accent that he let out a harsh laugh that made her blush again.

"I did it deliberately. The things we do to fit in, huh?"

Charisma nodded shyly and agreed, "yes, indeed."

Neither noticed their exchange being watched closely by Blaze who's eyes were alight with mischief and glee.

"I'm very confused in this place. We seem to have lived a very different life to many people here. I …I'm not a very sociable person at any rate."

Fury laughed again and agreed. "Me too. No species are ranked very highly in my book but," he paused and gave her a measuring look, Fury's sharp mind ticking over as his eyes devoured her with a heat that produced a shiver in Charisma. "You seem very nice. A little shy maybe, but pleasant all the same, there is a natural goodness in you. I can sense it."

"You have good senses," Blaze muttered but it fell on deaf ears, they only existed to each other.

Fury was mentally kicking himself. Nice? Pleasant? Not only were they complete understatements but …. Nice. What woman wanted to referred to as nice?

"Your very honest," Charisma gifted him with such a shy little smile that it made him want to lean over the counter and brush his lips gently across hers. Gently? Him? This girl was screwing with him big time, she needed to get out of the store or he did, and since Bride would have his head it should be her. Why then as his hands itching to pull her to him and make her stay?

"I try to be."

"You are."

They stared for a long moment. Just stared, and in that time Blaze had formulated just how she was going to get her shy, virginal albeit rather tough and stubborn big sister together with this fit young wolf. Wolf, Blaze almost laughed aloud, how ironic.

Fury stared in to sparkling emerald eyes and felt his stomach tighten exquisitely with lust and then dimly he heard Blaze clear her throat; both jumped and he noted how the elder sister blushed and daintily cleared her own throat.

"Are you, erm, are you …"

"What?" Charisma asked suddenly confused and a little disappointed by the sudden breaking of their connection. Because be there no doubt about it, there was a connection.

"The dress," Fury croaked out and shook his head, "do you want the dress?" he snapped and felt instantly contrite but didn't show it, there was something weird going on here.

"Yes, I do."

Fury folded it as neatly as he could, and tried not to look so uncomfortable as both women winced when he shoved it rather unceremoniously into the bag and rung up the till.

Charisma slid her gaze to Blaze who she saw was watching her like a hawk, and bit back a smile. Her little sister bless her, was a open book, she knew that right now under that sleek red head of hers she was forming plans for match making. Only problem with that was she would have to get in line, Charisma shy though she was had seen something she very much wanted, it was something she had secretly yearned for for many years.

Only one last step to take before she could pursue this beautiful wolf, Charisma looked down into Blaze's purse and began to methodically pull out dollar bills.

"Look, can I help you with that?" Fury didn't wait for an answer but leant over and gently pulled her hands that were cupping the purse on to the counter top. He was getting agitated, she was doing it, he needed alone time, he needed her away from him so he could breath right again.

Fury sorted through the money quickly and efficiently stowed the rest back into the girly purse, Charisma handed it over her shoulder to Blaze; her eyes still on Fury.

"I wouldn't let anyone else do that if I were you, you might end up a good few hundred dollars lighter then you should be."

"You mean people will steal it?" Blaze piped up from over her sisters shoulder and Fury smirked sarcastically.

"What did you grow up sandwiched between the Brady Bunch and the Partridge family? Yes, Miss, most people will rob you and not give a damn about it."

"They wouldn't dare," Blaze stated firmly, with a definite nod and Fury, his eyes raking over her small stature gave another less then amused laugh.

"So red, you think you could take down some of the best muggers in New Orleans, I hope you've watched the local news before you came out today."

"I don't have to," Blaze shot back smugly, "I have her." And she nodded to Charisma who promptly told her to be quiet, there was such underlying heat in her tone that she did so but reluctantly. Charisma turned the full force of her emerald stare on Fury once more, and now he shivered, but more from the sense of power she exuded and only half from lust.

"Your hardly worried about being careful," Charisma noted, "your not even armed."

"I don't need to be."

She stepped back from the counter at the growl in his voice, but not from fear, Charisma knew that the stream of questions was making him uneasy, cornered. It was his nature to lash out, as and she hated to admit it, it was hers. She had spent many years hiding her animalistic nature but there were definitely times when it came back to bite her in the behind.

"Well, if your not to scared to walk the streets," Charisma carried on breezily as if there hadn't been that moment of tight tension, "I would very much like to see you at our opening night, its on Friday. So you have a whole week to sike yourself up for it."

Fury gave her a wry smile, what was it about this woman, his whole body felt drawn to her, even his heart was pulling towards her, its icy exterior melting in the presence of her light. Only his mind would save him.

"I'm not much of a coffee person," he said trying to cut off the conversation and he saw some of the light flicker in her eyes, was sorry to see it leave but she needed to go away, she was making him think things. Things he had no business, no right thinking. She was a beautiful and lovely woman, he wasn't a nice man; damn it! He wasn't even a man. He sighed regretfully and Charisma nodded but held a friendly hand out anyway, why did she have to be so enchanting?

"Well, in case you change your mind and come there, look for me. I'm Charisma Basia."

Fury scanned his limited knowledge of Greek, she had pronounced it ba-shee-ah, that alone had given him chills, and if he was right that was a her last name meant something like foreign or strange, well all he could say was this girl had been aptly named. He saw her swallow and look uncomfortable so he put his hand into hers, immediately he felt a light fluttering in his head, like wings tickling his skull. A sizzling warmth zinged up his arm and spread rapidly through his body, it filled him with euphoria and made him want to let loose a howl of triumph, behind the girls the bell upon the door was tinkling and the glass in the cabinets was filled with prisms of light. Fury yanked his hand back from Charisma and just stared at her, he caught the barest glimpse of himself in the mirror to the right of him. All the colour had seemed to have run out of him and into her. While his face was stark and pale, hers was bright and flushed with colour, yet for all of that blush her face was a picture of fear. He knew it was fear, he was raised on fear, he knew fear well and he could smell it rolling off her in waves

"I'm sorry," she managed before whirling round and out of the door with Blaze at her heels.

"No!" Charisma moaned into her hands, "no, no, no, no!"

"What is wrong with you?" Blaze asked incredulously, putting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her to a stop. Charisma turned to face her sister, her heart pounding, misery etched on to her face.

"That wasn't meant to happen-"

"Of course it was," Blaze laughed, she had openly yearned for years for her Calling, "It was just the Calling, Charisma."

Charisma groaned again. The Calling was what her pantheon experienced when they had found their 'other'. The physical reaction to him alone should have alerted her but when they had grasped hands, Charisma had called out telepathically to powers beyond her own and asked the fatal question. 'Who do I belong to?'

The question was answered, the bells chiming, the prisms of light all revealed Fury, the Katagaria were-hunter to be her … there wasn't a word for it in the human world other then soul mate. Fury was her soul mate.

Damn it things were going to get tricky. She knew almost all there was to know about the were-hunters that she had gleaned from the minds of the bears in the bar not far from here, it had been fascinating! She also knew that they had their own way of selecting mates that included sex, that alone gave her the jitters.

Charisma gave another groan, she doubted very much that Fury would ever want to be near her again after that fiasco, she didn't think he would be able to feel the affects if he were not one of her kind, like always she was mistaken.

If a God or Goddess who experiences the Calling doesn't choose to mate with the designated person, no harm will come of it, not in the way were-hunters are. Well, no physical harm at least; however that person or God will walk through life forever not whole, with a single most important piece of their soul missing. The experience alone can drive a person insane or so she had been told. Already Charisma was feeling the affects, she wanted to go back and look through the window and see if he was alright.

And the worse part or maybe the best part, she wasn't sure at the moment, perhaps she should call it the most fatalistic part was they had met before.

"You don't understand," Charisma whined, "he knows nothing about us, of what I am, of what we are. And …"

"And?" Blaze prompted.

"I know him already."

Blaze's face broke into a smile which flickered when she noted that Charisma wasn't also smiling. "Why is this bad, doesn't that alone prove you were meant to be -"

Blaze broke off with a dawning look of comprehension that changed to horror, Charisma would have laughed if her heart hadn't been aching, her face was so expressive; right then Blaze was showing horrified admiration for her sister.

"When?"

"In human years, a few hundred years ago. In our years, well lets say I was fifteen at the time so not too long ago."

"You visited the human world when you were fifteen, unaided and without protection, without telling anyone?"

Charisma shifted guiltily.

"Rage is going to be so pissed off!" Blaze whooped gleefully, Charisma winced thinking of their older brother who as the god of storms and the ocean, and the most temperamental person she knew, he was perpetually pissed off.

"We've only been here a few months and already you sound human," Charisma sneered at Blaze for lack of what to say, Blaze merely shrugged and grinned.

"Does he recognise you?"

"No," again Charisma felt that guilt before muttering a barely audible, "I was a wolf at the time."

Blaze laughed so loudly this time that a young and rather gorgeous couple across the street stopped arguing to look over, Blaze waved at them and Charisma sneered when the man refused to look away from them. Human men were disgusting, his wandering eye was what they were likely to be arguing over.

"He is succulent," Blaze noted, looking over at the man and winking, the woman shrieked and Charisma pulled Blaze away, mouthing sorry to the woman. Blaze laughed wickedly and produced a flyer advertising the coffee house from her purse, tossing it in the air she shouted "Come see me on Friday, Sweetie."

His girlfriend was practically spitting venom and raised her hand, the guy caught it and pulled it down.

A by product of being mated her people's way was that no other man would ever affect her again. After that situation, it was such a relief. Blaze carried on as if the woman had not been writing her name on her 'to kill' list.

"Blaze, why can't you be normal! If looks could kill, that bitch would have had us in the ground!"

"You know, Chrissy, I used to think you were boring," Blaze said, in her usual tactless way, "but to be honest I am so proud of your rebellious streak. So this is what you were doing when you would go off on your own. Ha! This is so great!"

Charisma tried not to feel happy at the slightly self-satisfied feeling she got from her wild little sister thinking she was a rebel.

Ash tipped down his sunglasses and looked past Artemis and studied the two mysterious women that dashed off down the street, the little red head laughing enthusiastically.

"Let go of me Acheron," Artemis screeched, "I'm going to sizzle that human whore!"

"Your not going to 'fry' anybody," Ash muttered unfazed by her tirade, his eyes were still lingering on the two young and completely unknown goddesses walking down a New Orleans street.

Was something going on he didn't know about?

Ash grinned darkly, was there ever? The answer to that was hell no! All he would have to do was probe a little and he'd know exactly who these women were. Though they looked like no deity he had ever seen, and as to what pantheon they belonged … hmmm, a mystery.

Artemis dissolved the disguise of a luscious brunette that had been designed to tempt Acheron, he'd seen straight through it and that annoyed her and now he was staring longingly up the road after those two whores and that made her furious. While his attention was directed away from her Artemis drew her hand back and then lunged forward to slap his face viciously, her nails were extended for the total effect.

His swirling silver eyes did not leave the silent and deserted road end up ahead, instead he merely caught her wrist in a tight grip, just tight enough to threaten her, make her think twice about trying to strike but not enough to break bones.

"Don't do that again, Artie," Ash's voice rumbled menacingly in the night, "I don't have any qualms about biting the hand that feeds me, so to speak. If you'll excuse that little bit of crude god humour." With that Ash flicked his wrist elegantly and Artemis stumbled back, catching herself against the wall.

"You would dare to strike me!" she hissed, her fiery red hair almost crackling with rage, Ash gave her a bored look while his mind searched for the women he had just seen.

"You don't qualify as a friend, family or a woman, so yes I would kick the shit out of you and its only pure iron will that stops me from doing so."

"I hate you!"

"Oh," Ash pretended to shiver with ecstasy, the movements he made alone were a turn on to Artemis, his voice only added a sensual effect that had her reaching for him "please say that one day and mean it."

"Come to Olympus, Acheron," she slivered behind him and let her arms come up under his, to slide over his chest so she could lean up and purr in his ear. "I'll make it worth your while."

"Will you give me my soul back and get the fuck out of my life?" He asked it nonchalantly, but despair blossomed anew in his heart when he thought of how well she had him imprisoned.

"Of course not," she chuckled lightly, yet to Ash's ears it was malicious and he broke away from her hold, keeping his face expressionless so she never knew how much he despised it.

"Then its not worth my while." And he turned his back on her with a cold disdain that cut her all the way to her frozen heart. The lengths she had gone to keep him, to please him, to show him affection and love when he had had none. He owed her something after all their time together!

Artemis allowed him to walk a little way from her and simply watched the perfection that was Acheron. No artist could paint such a cultured and handsome face, strong proud chin and a straight nose, perfect straight white teeth that could scrape the line of her neck so exquisitely; Artemis shuddered at the thought.

His eyes a deep swirling silver that were always so cold, like hard steel when they looked upon her, yet when he gazed upon his beloved dark hunters or that horrific looking demon, Simi, those eyes intensified and warmed to a boiling mercury. And she hated him for that as well.

Why could he not love her as he had done once before? She would not let him go then and she would not let him go now. That was final. He best get over it.

Her gaze lingered over his firm behind, encased in black leather, his long legs and large muscles chest, broad shoulders and strong toned arms were all suffocating under that leather and though she admitted it looked good on him, she liked him better out of it.

Even while his hair was dyed a disgusting black with that vile streak of red running through it, he still possessed an aura of invincibility, of sexual prowess and expertise, of danger and seduction. He was temptation and power personified, alluring in the most deadly way and was all the more enticing for that streak of stubbornness that refused to bend to her almighty will.

Acheron was thankful Artemis had hung back so he could track those women, when he had a fix on them he used all the powers he possessed against their incredibly thick mind shields. His forehead beaded with sweat as he tried to trace a path through one of the girls minds, she was too well guarded and too strong to enter her mind from this far away. He was good but even a god like himself had some limitations, if she were in his sight it would be different, that alone assured him that she was a goddess. He switched to her sister and found her much easier, this must be the red head he thought with a quirk of his lips, her mind was more open and less disciplined on how to control power, though it shouldn't have been this easy, he probed deeper. Her mind and its blocks had sustained deep trauma, a damage that came from being possessed or hurt by dark magic. It was there that he soaked up as much information as he could without her noticing his presence. Suddenly Ash felt himself jerked back from her mind and looked at Artemis.

He ground his teeth in frustration and shook her clinging body off his arm, why couldn't she just leave him alone? But oh no that would be far too much to ask to leave him be to fight the creatures that her brother had created.

"Get off me," he snarled and made to flash himself away from her, but stopped, realising that for once she might be of use. He turned so he was facing her once more and she was pouting.

"Artemis, have you heard of any new pantheons moving into the area?"

"What will you give me if I tell you?" she asked slyly, her hands clasped behind her back she glided towards him.

"I'll tell you what I'll give you if you don't tell me!" Ash growled and Artemis squealed and ran back a few steps.

"I don't know of any. Why?" Her eyes were suddenly suspicious, "what have you heard?"

"Nothing."

"You - no - you think those two humans were Goddesses!" She let out a peel of laughter that even masked by her beautiful voice grated at him.

"Well, they were certainly beautiful enough."

Artemis stopped at once and pulled back her lip to expose her teeth in a snarl. "You bastard!"

Ash laughed evilly. Well that settled it, he had suspected it but Artemis in her ignorance of the women had confirmed it. The two women he saw were not humans, they were goddesses but from no pantheon of this dimension … so from which?

And how did they manage to cross over without creating any chaos? To cross over dimensions was one of the most risky, dangerous pieces of magic to perform, it knocked out of balance all things in the dimension you came form and the one you jumped into and then started a domino effect on all the rest. Where were the signs? The prophetic omens that foretold the upcoming apocalypse? The four horse men, the cats giving birth to litters of snakes, the days of darkness, plagues, famine, crazy people flocking the streets in religious mania?

Interesting ….

That was Ash's last thought before flashing himself out from under Artemis's nose and was in his own home with Simi and Danger before he heard her scream of fury.