Axel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, he dialed a number before putting it to his ear. The receiver picked up on the third ring.
"The hell do you want now?" a baritone male voice spoke in Ancient Greek.
"I need a you to do me a favor." he answered in the same language."I need to know exactly what happened in a deadly accident that sent Gemina Sinsabaugh into a coma."
The male on the other end let out a exaggerated, slightly frustrated sigh. "Fine, but you owe me."
"I know, just do it Thanatos." Slipping back into English on the last word. He immediately hung up and brushed his hair back from his face just in time to see the blonde come to. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." The sarcasm couldn't get any thicker in the room without choking someone.
"Fuck you, Dark-Hunter," Quandus growled, wincing as he shifted and aggravated the wound on his stomach. "Gemmie, you alright, baby?"
"And itching to kill something," Gemina answered, still glaring at Sinsa and making it clear who was at the top of her list. Sinsa winced and subconsciously stepped closer to Axel.
"Where did you get that ring?" she blurted, forcing her eyes away from Gemina to meet the Daimon's gaze.
"Pretty, isn't it?" he smirked, taunting her. "Hardly does my girl justice."
"Answer the question, roadkill," Axel rumbled threateningly. Quandus gave him a bland look, an expression that said he wasn't really afraid of the Dark-Hunter at the moment. But he answered anyway.
"I bought it," he said, gaze shifting back to Sinsa. "A guy whose girlfriend..." he paused, rubbing her nerves raw, savoring her anxious desperation. "...died in a coma from a collision with the rear end of a semi."
Sinsa's breath caught, her heartbeat pounding in her head.
"You bastard!" she shrieked, lunging for him.
He sighed as he grabbed Sinsa by her collar and used his powers to restrain her to a chair next to him.
"And by the dead girlfriend, you mean your present wife?" Axel pressed as a black file appeared in his lap. Thanatos was a pretty busy person so he had forwarded the info Axel wanted instead of coming to deliver it himself. Picking it up and flipping it open, he continued. "Who died at precisely 9:59 pm on August 8th, seven years ago but was then mysterious brought back from the grave three days after she was buried?"
He cast the Daimon a bored look to the shocked one on the man. "You care to explain her ressurection or shall I?" He noticed Gemina's shocked silence as she looked to her husband, a questioning gaze in her emerald eyes.
"If you really do love her, it'd be wise to answer."
The Daimon's eyes narrowed and his smirk turned to a scowl. The sisters both stared at him, waiting for his reply.
"...There's a new species being bred," he muttered finally; it was plain he'd been backed into a corner with no way out, so he spoke freely. "At one point, Daimons allowed humans to work for them, the way Squires work for Dark-Hunters. When that went bad, Stryker sent us out to clean up the mess, and one of us made a discovery that will change things for Daimons and Apollites everywhere..." He glanced at Gemina, who looked betrayed and torn between anger and confusion. "Certain humans, namely of a specific bloodline, can be brought back to life with blood and souls, what Daimons feed on daily. They're reborn with the same body they had when they died, restored to perfect health, but without any memory of their previous life. They're children, moldable, teachable..." His gaze returned to Axel, who was listening contemplatively, and Sinsa, who looked horrified. "When Stryker found out, he assigned a team of us to track down anyone and everyone in the bloodline and arrange for an early death, and then he'd send us a support team to bring them back."
"Why?" The word came from both women's throats simultaneously.
"Simple," Quandus said coldly. "When they're reborn, they can be taught anything... Fighting, magick... Even how to kill a god. All that's needed is for someone who has the skill to show them, and they can gain infinite knowledge."
Axel smirked at this news. "Now this will be good information to pass off to Acheron. Hell now I have a reason to personally kill Strykerius myself. Since Acheron isn't allowed in Kalosis without setting free Apollymi and bringing about the apocalypse for us all, that leaves me." The Daimon paled dramatically in horror, starting to realize the Dark Hunter in front of him produced a similar aura to the Dark Hunter leader and looked like a complete duplicate of him. Axel gave him a cruel, killer smile before he wiped his face of emotion into a neutral look before looking to Gemina.
"If you wish it, I can offer you a way out of the bond between you two. The only condition is that you would need to stay under surveillance so nothing like this can happen again. I can even restore your memories if you like."
Gemina looked to him in surprise as it had not been what she had expected him to say. She bit her lip in thought for a moment before asking. "What would I have to do?"
Axel gave a small smile, a warmer one this time. "You would just need to drink a little blood from me once a month. This would be to secure your life and sanity."
"I..." Gemina bit her lip, gaze shunting to the side.
"Take your time," Axel said gently.
"No," she blurted quickly. "I..." She glanced at Sinsa, who watched her intently, anxiously. Then she looked over at the man she'd thought she loved. "Was any of it true?" Her voice broke, her eyes searching his for any sign.
"Ye-"
"Don't lie, Quandus," she said, a bit sharply. He clenched his jaw, his lack of a reply answer enough. She choked on an angry sob, gritting her teeth and looking back at Axel. "I'll stay in chains if I have to, just... One favour." The god gestured for her to speak it and she cast a glare at her supposed husband. "Show me how to kill him."
Axel smiled. "There is a black mark on his chest that all Daimons have to collect the soul as they kill their victims..." He snapped his fingers and her chains fell free, he pulled a butterfly knife from his boot and flipped it open, holding the handle out to her. "All you need to do is stab him there. I will take care of removing the bond once you are done."
Sinsa bit her lip to keep quiet as her sister reached out and took the knife. Gemina's expression turned stony as she faced Quandus.
"You lied to me," she gritted out, ramming the knife into his side, pricking his heart. He cried out, grunting in pain when she ripped it down his side. "You used me." The knife plunged into the hollow of his throat and slashed across his neck, making his next cry trail off in a gurgle. "You kept me away from my family?" She cut a long, slow gash into his stomach, ignoring the blood and gore coating her hands and splashing her clothes. He warbled an agonized cry, uselessly trying to get free so he could fight back. "You trained me to be a killer, bastard. Well, congratulations... You succeeded." Flipping the knife around in her hand, she ripped his shirt, exposing the black mark, and slammed the knife in, all the way to the hilt.
Immediately, she collapsed.
Axel was immediately at her side, crouched down on the floor. He slit his own wrist then brought it to his mouth, letting blood pool and coat his tongue but didn't swallow. Instead he cradled the back of her head in one hand and once enough blood filled his mouth, he placed the other against her heart and leaned down to meet her lips with his own and used his tongue to force her lips apart to force the blood into her mouth and down her throat. At the same time his hand against her heart forced a bit of his powers into her body, which quickly worked to sever the bond between her and Quandus, but also fused her life force with the blood willingly given.
Hearing her groan was the first sign of her coming to. Her eyes slowly blinked open as Axel pulled away and helped her sit up. She blinked several times to get her eyes to adjust to the lighting but then when she managed to focus, her gaze shifted to Sinsa.
Gemina quietly swallowed as she started to tear up. "Sin..." Her voice cracking before she started to cry. She quickly moved and hugged her sister. Her sister. The one she dearly missed so much.
Axel finished the Daimon off and had the satisfaction of watching him explode into golden dust.
"Oh, Sin, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, inspecting her sister's face closely, as though trying to mark every difference between the Sinsa now from the girl she'd last seen seven years ago.
"It's fine," Sinsa said, crying tears of joy and smiling brightly. "It's fine; I know you didn't mean it."
"I would've found you ages ago if I'd remembered!"
"I know, I know," she replied, wrapping her arms around Gemina's waist and clinging to her. "You're back now; that's all that matters."
At last, they pulled apart, staying linked at the hands and in their hearts.
"You've grown up so much, Sin," Gemina noted, beaming. She cast a quick glance at Axel and smirked. "And your boyfriend ain't bad, either." Sinsa flushed head-to-toe.
"He's not my boyfriend, Gem!" she protested.
"Uh-huh, sure," the older girl nodded, not at all convinced. Before Sinsa could splutter another protest, she turned to the god, her grin replaced with a look of utter gratitude. "Thank you, for everything. Because of you, I got my memories back, and my sister. Knowing she's alive and safe, and happy, is worth more than anything in the universe. Because of that, I owe you everything."
Axel waved it off. "It's the least I could do. If your sister is anything like you, she would of tried to kill me if she found out I could of brought you back. While I'm normally one to agree that bringing the dead back to life is a taboo. I wasn't about to damn your soul because of some manipulative bastard."
Gemina thanked him again before looking to her sister with a grin. "Man, he's a good kisser." She laughed as her sister's face turned pink.
Axel chuckled. "I've been told that. Among other things." He stepped up to them. "I'll take you back to New Orleans, you two look like you could use some catching up."
The moment the city formed around them, Gemina gasped and stumbled, pressing a hand to her forehead.
"Gem?" Sinsa supported her, worried.
"S-so many voices..." Gemina panted, struggling to sort through all the things she heard in her mind.
"Oh, sorry," Axel apologized. "I should've warned you; you'll be able to hear people's thoughts, and you might be able to see people's futures."
"Oh, gee, thanks for the warning," Gemina said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She took a breath and stood upright. "I'm alright; it'll just take a while to get used to this... partial godhood, I guess?"
"You know...?" Sinsa asked, surprised. Her sister managed a soft laugh.
"I kinda got some of his powers, genius," she teased, flicking the younger girl's forehead. "I sensed it." She glanced sidelong at him. "I sensed a lot of things, most of which I should probably try to forget."
"You'll be able to ignore things with time. Though there will be individuals you can't see anything of. You can't if: one, they are personally close to you or two, way too powerful for you to see anything." Then he gestured to Sanctuary behind them. "Let's go inside and you two can grab a booth and catch up. I have someone to say thanks to." At the girl's confused looks he chuckled.
"To Emily." Sinsa then understood. He elaborated for Gemina. "The woman who saw you in a vision and led us to you." With that the three of them headed inside.
"You're back," Aimee greeted blandly when she saw them. She eyed Sinsa and Gemina warily, returning Axel's nod as he slipped past her.
"Hey, Aimee, right?" Sinsa smiled. "Is there an open booth somewhere?"
"Yeah, right this way." The waitress gestured for them to follow, some of her briskness fading into professional kindness.
Once seated, she handed them menu's and took their drink orders: water with lemon for both.
"Quandus brought me here a couple of times after I first woke up," Gemina noted, looking around, "but I didn't realize there were so many non-humans here."
"Huh?" Sinsa's eyes widened in surprise. "Daimons?"
"Eh? No," Gemina frowned. "You didn't know? Most of the customers are human, but god or something up on the balcony, and all of the staff except, like, two people are..." she glanced around as though searching for a word. "Were-Hunters; half human, half animal."
"Aimee...?" Sinsa asked, startled.
"Yeah, a bear," Gemina nodded. "She doesn't really trust you, and she's nervous about me, but she won't say anything so long as we don't make trouble."
"Then I'll be on my best behavior," Sinsa said, giggling. Gemina grinned.
"So, how've you been these last seven years?" she asked after a moment. Sinsa's smile faded.
"I've been better," she sighed. "I've had ups and downs, but I've managed. I moved here from New York just a couple of months ago."
"How's everyone in the Bronx?"
"Same old," she answered, smile returning with the accent. "I miss it, but there's plenty here to stay for."
"I noticed," Gemina smirked, wiggling her eyebrows and casting at glance at the bar, where Axel was talking to Nick and Emily.
"Would you stop that?" Sinsa laughed, flushing. "I mean, yeah, he's cute, but it's not like I'm sleeping with him or anything."
"No, but you want to," Gemina grinned. "And who wouldn't? God he may be, but I'm surprised he isn't the god of attraction or something."
"You're horrible!" Sinsa muttered, unable to stop smiling completely.
"Love you, too, little Sin!"
Axel chuckled at a joke Nick cracked out before turning a questioning look to Emily. "So when are you telling your father you exist?"
Emily almost sprayed the beer she had taken a drink from. She put the back of her hand to her mouth to hold it in and swallow as she glared at him. "Not this again!"
"You need to tell him eventually. Preferably soon." Emily's eyes gained a hesitant look as she looked away. Much like Axel had when he had first meet Ash, Emily had the fear of rejection bubbling up inside her. Unlike him, she knew who he was, she had since she was a teenager. But considering what he was, she was nervous even more now by being in a city he visited from time to time. She wasn't even sure how to even start the whole talk between them and she was so afraid of screwing it up that she had been putting it off for the last couple years.
"Just how much can you hear?" Sinsa asked curiously.
"Too much," Gemina huffed, making a face. "I can barely hear my own thoughts over the roar. Especially from the humans; complaints, mostly, with a sprinkling of naughty thoughts. Like, that guy over there?" She gestured to a surprisingly comely young man talking to a pretty blonde waitress. "He wants to bang her, but he's 'nice enough' to wait for her consent; thinks he'll get lucky tonight if he charms her long enough."
"Ugh, TMI, sis," Sinsa grimaced.
"Sorry, filter's kinda busted with all the noise in my head," Gemina said apologetically.
"...Any ideas what Quandus was talking about earlier?" Sinsa asked after a moment.
"The bloodline thing?" Gemina shrugged. "Not a one. It doesn't sit easy with me; something about it just... chafes."
"Besides the fact that Daimons are killing our family and raising us into an army?" Sinsa growled.
"Yeah," Gemina answered seriously. "It's more than that." She watched the band for a minute and then sighed. "I'd love to raid a library or something and figure just what the hell we are."
"...Gem...?"
"No," she answered immediately.
"But...!"
"I'm not going to let you kill yourself just to gain a little power, Max!" she snapped.
"It's not the power I want," Sinsa returned, her expression pained. Gemina frowned curiously.
"Then why?"
"...I..." Sinsa sighed softly, staring at the table. "I just want to forget everything..."
She was about to press her sister for a reason when she suddenly stiffened. "Uh oh."
Sinsa immediately looked up to her, worried. "What is it?"
Gemina looked over to the bar. "Emily's the girl with the lavender eyes right?"
"...yeah..." Sinsa replied slowly, trying to catch on.
"There's someone here. Someone she's supposed to be meeting." Gemina glanced to the door and paled a little. The amount of power rolling off him was bone chilling intimidating and he easily pulled off the lethal and high dangerous look. "And he just walked in."
Without waiting for Sinsa's reply, she stood and went to the bar, moving quickly but casually.
"'Scuse me, sexy," she said to Axel as she slipped in between him and Emily. "Someone's here for you, in case you didn't notice, and to be honest, he scares the living daylights out of me. Which says a lot when I have some of Mr. God's powers." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at Axel. "And he's scaring the human customers too, so you might want to convince him to go back outside."
Emily, particularly confused, turned and see what she meant, turned white (which wasn't too hard) and quickly turned back around, looking quite scared now.
Axel sighed. "It's okay Gem. He's the one in charge of all the Weres so he's in every so often. And you're only feeling that intimidation cause you're more sensitive now, normal human won't. They can sense the lethalness but that's just natural for someone 'higher up the food chain' as the saying goes." He noticed the being at mention was making his way over and hence lead Gemina away and back to the booth.
He sat on Gem's side, but only to watch the inevitable event unfold in case he had to go save his friend. Nick took the hint and moved a few seats down, but not before promising his girlfriend that he'd stay nearby in case she needed him.
The witch almost made an audible whimper like an injured pup as she was left to the wolves, or in this case, the Chthonian who oversaw all the Weres in the four realms of existence.
"...He's tall," Sinsa noted, arms crossed on the table and leaning her chin on her shoulder to see the bar. "And good-looking-is there, like, a rule or something that all you immortals are super-hot?" She lifted her head to look at Axel. "I mean, even the Daimons have nice bodies."
"So you admit it?" Gemina teased, managing a grin as she patted Axel's forearm. "She's always been a little shy around the guys she likes."
"Would you stop?" Sinsa squeaked, blushing again and kicking Gem's leg under the table. "You're embarrassing me!"
"Good," the older girl smirked. "Just making up for seven years of lost time."
"Now I know you two are related." Axel chuckled, relaxing into the seat. "And since all Daimons are descendants of Apollo, they pretty much are. Thankfully it makes them easy to spot."
Emily on the other hand was trying not to have a nervous breakdown. She bit her lower lip as she kept her eyes down on the bar, hoping to not draw any attention. She hopes were crushed when she heard a deep bass voice right next to her.
"If you grip the bar any harder, you're going to snap it in half."
Before Emily could say anything, Aimee came out of the kitchen with a platter of food bound for Sinsa and Gem's table. She stopped short when she saw the newcomer, breath hissing between her teeth.
"Savitar!" she bleated.
"Relax, Aimee," he said blandly. "I'm here for pleasure, not business." Seeing as Sanctuary had lost it's official license a while ago, many of the Weres who worked at or frequented the bar had expected him to show up and level the place or something. Hearing the reassurance from him went a long way to relax the bear and she stifled a sigh, nodding instead.
Her knees were still knocking together when she set the platter between Axel and Sinsa.
"Savitar is here," she hissed at the god.
"Yeah, I noticed," Axel deadpanned. She gave him a look, baring her teeth.
"Why the hell didn't you warn me?" she demanded. "I nearly panicked!"
"I take it he's a force to be reckoned with," Sinsa noted.
"Understatement, Sin," Gemina shivered. "not only can I not hear anything from him, people around him get dampened too."
Axel threw in his two cents. "Remember me mentioning a person about equal if not more powerful than me and my father?" At Sinsa's nod he gestured to Savitar. "That's him. Hell, he was my dad's mentor when he was learning about his powers."
Sinsa stared shocked then looked back to where the two were.
"No wonder she's scared of him." Gemina sighed as she rubbed her temple. "Is there a way to dampen these thoughts down a bit?"
Axel quickly took care of that like one would turn down the volume on a radio. "And actually it's more than the intimidation that scares her." At the two confused looks he smiled with a knowing look. "Try figuring out the similarities between them from here."
After a long moment, Sinsa looked back.
"Maybe I'm going blind or something," she admitted, "but I can't see any similarities..."
"Me neither," Gemina frowned. "Are we missing something?"
"Try the physical things first."
"Well..." Gemina guessed. "Both are dark brunettes; fairly tall, at least for a woman in Emily's case..."
Sinsa thought for a moment before saying "was it just me, or did you see purple eyes on him as well? You did see him walk in the door."
"Now that you mention it, yeah I did..." Gemina's brows furrowed, trying to put the pieces together.
Just then, the band's sound system stopped playing their instruments and started playing the song "When You're Evil" by Voltaire. Axel started laughing. "She did it again." Was all he said.
Emily had to fight back a smile as the house band, the Howlers, protested to their systems wanking out again. She was quite the mischievous person and had already done this a few times before, but she was smart enough to not get caught. Between when Axel and Sinsa left the second time and then came back with Gemina, the band had taken a few breaks and no one had paid any attention when she had gone up and set up her little prank. Course she did use her magic to help with that.
"Hey!" Dev shouted to the band. "At least it's a good song and not fucking Sesame Street!"
At this point she was now silently shaking in laughter, biting her lip to try to not smile and look guilty.
Some of the patrons were protesting the music, others cheered, and most just laughed as the band and some of the staff tried to fix the speakers.
"I like her," Gemina laughed.
"Who, Em?" Sinsa asked, giggling. "Was she the one that did it?" Gemina nodded, singing along with the song. Many of the other patrons did the same, and several got up to dance as well. Experimenting, Gemina tried sending her thoughts to Axel, daring him to ask Sinsa for a dance.
Axel raised a brow at her, having heard it before she tried sending it to him. He rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. Not exactly a challenging dare, you should pick up some ideas from Em. he smiled when she sent him a look.
"I was planning on it anyway." He said before he got up and held his hand out to Sinsa. "Would you mind joining me for a dance?"
Maybe I will, Gem smiled sweetly as Sinsa blushed and nodded, taking his hand. As she watched the god swing her sister out onto the dance floor, she couldn't help the feeling that this might be the last time they could relax for a long while. She couldn't quite place her finger on the feeling, because she knew it wasn't from anyone's thoughts or any of the futures she had flooding her mind, but she just... knew it. Most likely because of Quandus' words. Clenching her teeth, Gemina swore right then that she would do anything and everything to protect her sister. Even if her soul was damned for it.
"I'm a horrible dancer," Sinsa said, trying not to smile too brightly lest she embarrass herself further, "just warning you; I apologize in advance for when I step on your feet, because I guarantee it's going to happen."
"Oh, I seriously doubt that." He smiled as he spun her out before pulling her close again.
Savitar shook his head as the song continued to play. "I get the feeling I might not want to know."
Emily smirked a little. "Probably. It's better to just go with it and not question."
Gemina shrugged off her trench coat and set it aside, tapping her boot in time with the music. It had been so long since she'd last been so completely at ease, and she intended to take full advantage of the situation, knowing it might not last.