Olympus was quiet today. Never good news when it was quiet up here. Trouble was brewing. At least over the past decade, that was what Nick had picked up on. The war with Azmodea was still in a transition phase, which kept Nick in hiding. Now being called Ambrose, he kept a low profile, and barely even went home anymore.
"Oooh, Nicky…"
Ugh. Those two words alone were enough to make him transport himself back to New Orleans and get away from the bitchy red head who ruined his life.
Her hand set on his shoulder and he quickly shrugged it away before pacing around her room. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?"
Artemis, in all her beauty and glory… "Guess old habits die easy." …Was as dumb as a brick.
Nick ground his teeth. "Die hard. Old habits—ya know, forget it. I need to get out of here."
She eyed him curiously. "Get out? Like where? You can't wander the halls of Olympus."
"I don't have to stay here. I'm not bound to this place." He made his point clear. "And I'm not bound to you, either."
Those words always cut her deeply. It was a polite reminder that he wasn't what Acheron was to her and never would be. He was smarter than that. He took up her offer for friendship after Ash's wedding to Tory, and as the years drug on, he regretted it ever since. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, but now…
"Well going to your home would be suicide. Noir's had New Orleans marked looking for you for decades." Artemis so snottily pointed out. She never wanted him to leave, and it drove him nuts.
Letting out a deep sigh, he tried to keep his cool. "I don't care anymore. I can't stand it here, and ya know, I'm not so sure that he doesn't have this place marked too." Nick looked her straight in the eye, "And even if he does send one of his minions to get me, bring it on! It's not like I'm afraid of them. I'm not afraid of anybody."
His words not being anything she'd never heard before, went in one ear and out the other. She looked at him curiously. "What makes you say that someone on Olympus is on Noir's side?"
"I would bet my life on it that someone here is his inside source." Nick confided in her, but she only blew him off as if he spewed nonsense.
"You'd bet your life on anything, why should I take your word?" Good to know after Ash left her that she grew compassion. Not.
The door to her temple opened and Apollo walked in. He and Nick cast their macho-guy glaring between one another. "Oh look. The Malachai's still here."
Nick quickly threw a smirk over his face before sarcastically spitting out, "Funny, Apollo, we were just talking about douche bags. Your ears must have been ringing."
"Sister when ever are you going to take out the trash? I smell his Cajun stench all over Olympus and I'm really getting sick of it."
"Well I've had my fair share of living out of the sun for quite some time now. Why don't you just end your sufferings and kill yourself, and make my world a better place." Nick flashed a smile before walking across the room to gather his things together. "Can you kick your brother out now?"
"She doesn't tell me what to do." Apollo spit out, venom lining his voice. "Don't you sister."
Artemis looked up at him, but didn't say a word. Nick saw the fear in her eyes but wasn't going to comment. He didn't care enough to get in between the two of them. "Don't take it personal, O Great Sun God, but I'm splitting anyway."
"Oh what a shame…" Apollo sneered, eying Nick up and down.
"Why are you being so stubborn?" Artemis asked, "You're going to get yourself killed."
Apollo beamed at her words. "Ah, one less Malachai to worry about."
Nick ignored him. "I'm going back home, Artie. I need to see some familiar faces before I lose my sanity up here." He looked to Apollo, "Or before I decide to snap my fingers and kill your brother."
Apollo stood up straighter, crossing his arms over his chest, and glaring at Nick. He knew the truth, how easy Nick could kill him, and how much he didn't care if the world got destroyed in the process.
She pouted, poking her bottom lip out and crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't see what's wrong with hanging out with me."
Now he rolled his eyes. "Good bye, Artemis. I won't be gone long. I just have to get off this mountain. I have to… I have to go."
And with that, he was gone. And Artemis was alone. Well, except for Apollo's presence. "Is he feeding off you still?"
"That's none of your business." Artemis threw back without thinking. Apollo was in her face instantly and she was shrinking back, afraid. He took hold of her arm, gripping it hard. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
The streets were still familiar, even though Nick hadn't been here in over three years, it was like he never left. The music still the same, the smell, the tourists, everything. And it saddened him. He missed his home, his friends. All his life was about now was plotting Acheron's death and making sure Noir didn't posses him. He'd shit bricks before he ever let that bastard yank his chain.
As Nick walked through the Quarter, various sites caught his eye and memory upon memory filled his mind. All the New Orleans Dark-Hunters still lived here, and he missed them all. But to call them up after all these years… He couldn't face them. He couldn't face his past. Their loyalty lied with Acheron over the monster he was. Nick's gaze caught a glimpse of Café Du Monde and a memory of Talon and his beignets came to mind. A beignet sounded pretty good too. Maybe he'd just grab one and leave. Go to his house and kick back there for a while until he got a sense about Noir tracking him again. Yeah, that sounded like a good enough plan.
Standing out like a sore thumb in the early summer heat, wearing a long black coat and more dark clothing, Nick missed his days of his Hawaiian shirts. Hell, then he'd really stick out.
Just go grab your beignet, and go home. You don't want to start something with all these tourists today.
As he walked across the Quarter, little did Nick know that with each step he took, the closer he got to where his life would change forever.
"I'll make the voodoo doll, and instead of tiny needles, we'll stab steak knives in the bastard!"
"How 'bout a cleaver?"
"Ooo! Just rip that sucker in half with a chainsaw!"
"Guys!" Marissa Hunter held back her laughter as best she could as her friends threw ideas back and forth about what to do about her ex-boyfriend from college last year.
Sitting in Café Du Monde, the small group of four had been catching up for over an hour about their past year in school. "You joke about that voodoo stuff, and one of these days it's going to bite you in the ass."
Stephanie, her best friend since elementary school, wiggled her eyebrows up and down. "Well, who's doing the biting? Ooo baby, make me a voodoo doll and hand me over to that waiter over there. Mmmhmm."
"Steph!" Marissa looked around hoping no one had heard her loud, obnoxious friend. "You're unbelievable."
"Risi, lighten up," Janet laughed as she sipped her soda. "You should be more like your cousin, Lizzie."
If there was one thing Marissa couldn't stand, it was being compared to her cousin, Elizabeth. Lizze, who was five years younger than her, was just as cooky as her Aunt Tabitha. Where Marissa grew up trying to hide the fact that she was as paranormal as they come, Lizzie followed in her mother's footsteps tracking the undead and hunting vampires throughout the town. Everyone in her school thought she was as nuts as they came, but it was normal for Marissa who grew up with both Tabitha and Lizzie.
"Really? Lizzie?" Vanessa Alexander put her two cents in now. Vanessa and Marissa grew up together as family friends for their fathers had been best friends for over thousands of years. Vanessa was two years older than everyone else, but was still in school, attempting to be a lawyer, as was Marissa. However, where Vanessa was in Harvard, Marissa took her classes at Tulane. She was also one of her few friends that new what she was and what world she lived in. "Lizzie couldn't have done half the damage that Risi did to Collin."
Janet was the first one anxious for the new gossip. "Ooo, what'd you do?"
That was a difficult one to answer. The guy had finally gotten her to sleep with him, told her he loved her, and a week later she'd found him in bed with not one, but two other girls. However, before she had a chance to say a word… Ash showed up. He made the girls disappear—without recognition of how it happened—and threw Collin against the wall and held him there as he threatened the poor boys life if he ever cheated on another woman again.
Although Collin didn't remember the girls disappearing from his bed, and being thrown—supernaturally—against the wall, he did remember Acheron in his face making him piss his pants in fear of him. He went to apologize to Marissa the next day, but it was then that she took out her own frustrations and anger out on him and since then he would only pass by giving a friendly nod and quickly looking the other way.
"It was nothing big. Just chewed him out, made him feel all little and deflated his ego." Marissa supplied, catching Stephanie's knowing gaze over the rim of her glass as she took a drink. Stephanie was her only completely pure human friend that knew about the Dark-Hunter world. She also knew what Ash did to the poor guy, but Janet… She would have to live without that knowledge. "So… Steph, what's your horror story for the year."
She smirked. "My horror story is that I spent a whole year without getting asked out once!" The sarcasm was evident in her tone, however the story was true. A bookworm since junior high, she always put her studies first, and this was her last year of college to be a computer engineer. She couldn't afford to mess up. "Although now that finals are over, I wouldn't mind a voodoo doll of that waiter over there to do whatever I command." Her eyebrows wiggled. "Mmmhmm, baby."
Marissa rolled her eyes. "You joke around..."
"And again. So long as he's doing the biting I don't care." Stephanie supplied.
The distraction of the bell ringing above the door to the café, brought Marissa's attention away from her friends and onto the gorgeous guy who walked in the door. Dressed in a long black trench coat and black biker clothes, the guy stood out like snowstorm in summer. He looked like someone her Aunt Tabitha used to hunt vampires with. If only she knew…
However, thanks to being born, not only of a Dark-Hunter, but a sorceress, Marissa wasn't just a regular run of the mill squire. She was one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and that was exactly how she could tell that the guy who walked through the door, was not fully human. As he crossed the room to get up in line at the counter, she could see the aura of power that surrounded him and it spiked her curiosity off the charts. "Did you guys need anything? I'm going to get something to drink."
They were all too busy in discussing all the naughty things they wanted to do with the waiter, that they hadn't even noticed her attention on the even more gorgeous guy that was in the café. Before waiting anymore, she got out of her seat and walked over to get in line behind him.
Standing probably a good eight inches taller than her, the mans dark brown hair fell just above his shoulders and hid his face from her. Closing her eyes, she tried to read him, but got nothing in return. That was new. She could feel his powers practically radiating from his skin, but couldn't spot a single one off of him. New, and totally discomforting.
Nick ordered his beignet and coffee, waiting patiently for the young girl behind the counter to get his order so he could leave. It was then he took the time to observe his surroundings. A habit he developed since finding out Noir wanted him more than anything and would stop at nothing until he claimed him. He didn't go anywhere without knowing his surroundings one hundred percent.
Marissa tapped her foot impatiently, her curiosity of who this guy was getting the best of her. Not being able to wait any further, she went to stand by his side, to pretend to be looking at a magazine of something, but didn't get too far before Nick got his order and collided right into her. A burning feeling came over her arms and a hot dampness fell over her shirt, but both sensations were as gone as quickly as they came as two strong hands grabbed her by her shoulders.
The collision took him by complete surprise as he dropped his beignet and felt his coffee spill all over the girl before him. Thinking quickly, he absorbed the coffee back into his cup, but unfortunately, the beignet had to rest in pieces beneath his boots. That's what he got for thinking he could just walk back into his old life and have no consequences. For all he knew, Artemis made the girl run into him. Looking down, shock crossed his features as a pair of familiar deep blue eyes stared up at him.
"I'm so sorry," She spit out, as she looked up, and gasped at the blackness of his eyes. Her eyes quickly traveled from his eyes to a familiar tattoo on his cheek. "I…"
"You don't need to apologize. It was an accident." He let go of her and set his coffee aside. "Are you okay?"
Marissa nodded and with no self control left, she felt her eyes moving toward the tattoo again. She could swear it was the exact same ones that her father and Ash had. "I was young and stupid."
She looked at him curiously. "Excuse me?"
"The tattoo." He supplied. "A college dare."
"I see… Did it hurt?"
Nick shrugged. "Didn't feel a thing."
Oh, so he was that guy. The tough, no pain no game, macho guys from her school she couldn't stand. Also all of her father's friends were that way.
"I don't think I caught your name." Nick said, as he looked her over noticing familiar traits he couldn't quite place. Her dark brown hair held auburn streaks that made him want to put his face in the crook of her neck and inhale her shampoo. Those blue eyes she possessed were ready to possess him, and he was re-thinking the whole coming to town would be a mistake thing. Maybe he could take this girl home…
She looked him straight in the face. "You didn't catch it because I didn't say it."
Nick smiled, showing off his dimples and Marissa felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Oh good lord the guy had a smile to die for.
"I'm Ambrose." He introduced himself, holding his hand out, waiting for Marissa to shake it.
Looking down at his hand extended to her, she was hesitant, but reached out and shook it anyway. "Ambrose." He nodded. "That's different."
Nick shrugged before pulling his hand away. "So I take it yours is a common name?"
She smiled while drawing her hand back in and feeling a strange emptiness in her palm. "It's Marissa."
Why were warning bells going off in his head, and why did that name sound so familiar? There was something about this girl that he knew he should just leave be, but he couldn't. Something was drawing him to her. "A beautiful name for a beautiful girl."
Marissa smiled bashfully before glancing back to her table and seeing her friends gawking at the scene, or maybe just Ambrose in general. "Thank you."
"My pleasure, chere." He replied, looking past her to her friends and then looking back to her. "Well, I don't think you should keep your friends waiting any longer now." He held his hand out, palm up. "It was nice to meet you, Marissa."
She set her hand in his and Nick brought her knuckles up to his lips and placed a soft kiss upon them. Letting her hand slip out of his was the hardest thing she'd done since studying for her law school finals two weeks ago. "It was nice to meet you, Ambrose."
He tipped his head and headed toward the door. "Have a nice life, my lady."
And with no further words, he passed through the crowd and walked out of her life. It was a good thirty seconds before she came back to reality and watching where he had walked out of the door. Returning to her friends, she sat down and retold the little run in she had with him.
"And you didn't ask for his number!" Stephanie practically shouted. "What's wrong with you?"
"I don't know…" Janet shook her head, "The guy kind of looked like a drug dealer, don't you think?"
"If that's the case, I'm definitely addicted." Stephanie leaned back in her seat. "I can't believe you just let a catch like that walk out of your life."
Marissa shook her own head. "I can't either… But hey, if it was meant to be…"
Vanessa reached out and touched her friends shoulder. "Sweetie, you're at the beginning of a new summer. You're going to get over Collin once and for all because he'll be the last thing on your mind. I mean, you have that job you're starting this week, and girl, you'll have so much fun, finding a guy will be the last thing on your mind."
"Where you going to be workin' at?" Janet asked.
"My Dad got me a job over at the bar on Ursulines. Sanctuary."
"The biker bar?" She was aghast.
Marissa nodded. "I'm going to waitress for the summer."
"You sure that's safe?"
Stephanie rolled her eyes at Janet. "Girl, you don't even think the doctor's office is sanitary."
"This place is a biker bar we're talkin' about!"
Vanessa smiled before saying, "Yeah, well rumor has it that the real live Cupid goes there all the time. And Psyche."
Marissa glared at Vanessa, but that didn't stop her. Because both of their own heritage, they had to take Greek mythology in college, as did Steph and Janet.
"Har, har." Janet said, "I'm not that stupid to believe in that kind of stuff. Besides, Cupid as a biker? You really have lost it, 'Nessa."
Vanessa and Marissa shared a look, and neither girls could help but burst out in a fit of giggles. Stephanie draped an arm over a clueless Janet's shoulder and said, "Just wait till we all go out to eat there on Risi's first day."
Janet looked mortified. "Go there?" She bowed her head, knowing after many years of hanging out with these girls that there really wasn't much that they couldn't convince her of doing. But as Steph continued to scare Janet, and Vanessa talked her nonsense, Marissa's mind drifted to the mysterious man she ran into. Ambrose. She had a feeling she was going to have a hard time getting over this one…
Marissa found her mom folding clothes in the laundry room, humming her and Kyrian's song, to herself like the love-sick teenager she reminded her of. What Marissa wouldn't give to find a love like that. Turning to grab another pair of Kyrian's pants, she caught a glimpse of Marissa in the doorway. "Hey, sweetie."
"Hey Mom." She walked further into the room. "Want some help?"
"Sure. I thought you were spending the day in the Quarter with Stephanie and everyone."
Marissa shrugged. "I was. But I'm gonna spend all summer with them, ya know?"
"Want some Mom time?" Amanda smiled.
"Maybe just a little…" She smirked and gave her Mom a loving nudge. "Mom, you know Dad's tattoo he has on his shoulder?"
Amanda continued to fold clothes as she looked to her daughter. "What about it?"
"I was wondering what it stood for." Marissa's tone was casual as she spoke. "If there was any meaning behind it."
"Any meaning behind what?"
Both women looked over their shoulders as Kyrian walked in the room. He walked up and placed a kiss on top of Marissa's head. "Hey Daddy."
"Our daughter wants to know what your tattoo stands for." Amanda explained, sharing a curious look with her husband.
He looked hesitant, before looking to Marissa. "Well, there's really no harm in telling. That double bow and arrow was the symbol for Artemis. The Godess who made me a Dark-Hunter."
"And every Dark-Hunter has on. 'Cause, doesn't Uncle Ash have one too?"
"Uncle Ash does have one." Amanda explained. "He was your Dad's boss."
"Yeah, I knew that. I just… I saw someone today who had the same tattoo. Does that mean he's a Dark-Hunter too?"
Kyrian looked hesitant. "What do you mean, you saw it?"
Marissa sighed, "This guy came into Café Du Monde today, and I saw that he had the same tattoo as you."
"Okay, but where did you see the tattoo?" Kyrian pressed.
Amanda looked concerned. "Honey, what's wrong?"
Kyrian's voice was firm, as he tried to hold back his anger. "Did you sleep with this guy, Marissa?"
"Kyrian!"
"What? No!" Marissa was aghast. "Dad I swear."
Kyrian caught Amanda's shocked gaze that demanded answers for his outburst. "I'm asking because the brand isn't supposed to be shown. It's supposed to be hidden, so people can't pick us out in the crowd, so for Risi to have seen it, worries me." He looked back to his daughter, "So I ask again, did this guy come on to you?"
"No. The tattoo was on his face, plain as day. I bumped into him on accident up in front of the counter. The tattoo stood out like a sore thumb."
Kyrian looked almost more mortified as realization dawned on him of whom it could be.
"But it was daylight right? Dark-Hunters can't be out in sunlight." Amanda pointed out, now arguing if she saw one at all. "It must have been a coincidence."
However, the look on Kyrian's face said otherwise, and had Marissa even more curious about her encounter with Ambrose earlier. "Was it, Daddy?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Dark-Hunter's can't go out in daylight. If it were a real Dark-Hunter he'd have combust into flames."
But Marissa knew that her father knew something. Unfortunate to her, she couldn't read his thoughts. She just had to go on natural instinct.
"What aren't you telling me?" Amanda asked. A chuckle escaped her lips, "Wait, let me rephrase that. What aren't you telling our daughter, because you are definitely not leaving me out of the loop."
Kyrian ran his hands through his hair before collapsing his body to their bed. "I have an idea of who she's talking about—if she's telling the truth and not sleeping with whoever this guy is."
"I don't think she'd lie. Besides, Ash would have known if that were the case and had already taken care of the problem. I'm sure."
"Yeah, and the fact that that hasn't happened leaves me to believe it's even worse than I thought."
"Well who do you think it is?"
He sighed. "It is a Dark-Hunter. But more powerful, powerful to the point that daylight won't kill him. That only very ancient powers can destroy him, and if that were to ever happen, the world as we know it would be over."
Amanda looked afraid. "Ash wouldn't let that happen though. It takes a lot to be more powerful than Ash right?"
Kyrian laughed at the irony of her statement. "True. Ash would do anything he could to not let this guy die. Because if this guy died, so would Ash."
Realization dawned on Amanda. "She ran into Nick."
He nodded. "She ran into Nick."
Nick couldn't get the girl's eyes out of his mind. There was such familiarity in that haunting gaze when her blue eyes stared into his black ones. Marissa. She definitely was too precious of a soul to have been introduced to his life. Such a creature like him shouldn't have infected her. But those eyes… Eyes of knowing, when they saw his tattoo. Eyes that would haunt him for quite sometime, he knew it. And how had she snuck up on him so? How did he not sense her so close in his aura? Was she an enemy? She recognized the symbol on his cheek, he knew it. So was she a squire? Something wasn't adding up, and still even though his warning bells were going off and he didn't know if she was friend of foe... He couldn't stop thinking about kissing her, of other naughty things he wanted to do.
"I'm such a fuck up." He stared himself down in the mirror before him, as memories flooded his mind. Memories of selling his soul to Artemis…
"You were thinking of me…"
Speak of the fuckin' devil.
"Not pleasant thoughts, I guarantee." Nick replied, not bothering to hide the venom in his tone. Artemis didn't care. She walked up and wrapped her arms around him, her fingers slowly trailing over his shirtless torso.
Ash had one thing right. She was a bitch goddess. "What do you want?"
"You." She giggled. "What's got your socks in a bunch?"
He stared at her through the mirror. "Panties in a bunch?"
"Yeah. Whatever, you know what I meant."
Nick shrugged out of her hold, not caring as she pouted from his absence. "You'd think being a goddess you'd have the power of common slang. If not, then don't try to use it."
Artemis scoffed. "You're definitely in a mood. No wonder you and Acheron were such good friends."
Nick hissed, barring his fangs at the mention of Ash's name. "You know better than to talk about him in front of me!" He threatened. "You don't own me like you did him, I'm more powerful than you, and don't need your help at all! Don't make me do something you'd regret in the end!"
Unphased by his tirade, she yawned. "If you kill me, you'd destroy the world."
Nick laughed. "I don't give two shits if I destroy the world. I've wanted to die for decades. Decades, Artemis! I just have a score to settle before that happens. So don't think my threats are empty. I kill Ash, and his Mom is released from her imprisonment and guess who she goes for first?"
Speechless, her expression was contrite, knowing not to push him any further. But Nick went on anyway. "She's going for you and your brother's throat."
"And you would end the world?" She asked, actually sounding remorseful.
"The only person I ever cared about—that evercared about me, that ever stood by my side was killed, murdered, because of Apollo's race. So I don't give a rats ass about him. My mom risked her life for me, gave up her life, and did any and everything possible to make me happy. She is the only person to every truly love me and now she's dead. No one has ever done half the shit she did for me, so fuck everyone else. I'm through with this shit."
"Nick—"
"That's not my name!" He growled. "Nick died over twenty years ago."
And with that, he left the room, left Artemis standing in his bathroom, knowing this was definitely not the time to argue with him.