"Remember to aim at your target, and since you are beginner maybe bit higher. Keep both eyes open, no use depriving yourself of any of your limited vision. Don't slouch. Keep your shoulders loose when you shoot, but retain your posture, remember that we are army, not day care."
I grit my teeth, really wanting to aim my bow and arrow at the Daimon woman who was instructing me, a woman who was over a thousand years old and yet still was more beautiful than I could ever possibly hope to be. She had waist-length white blond hair and a pair of eyes that were black as coal, and she wore jeans and a tight blue sweater with a pair of stylish black boots.
She'd be prettier if she wasn't so damn annoying!
Four hours of this had me seriously considering aiming the bow at her.
"Now, eyes open, draw back your arm. Slowl-Slowly, I say!" She snapped as she stood back after adjusting my arm again. I kept both open eyes on the red and white bulls eye a few yards away. "Aim, keep aiming, eyes open, now fire!"
She shouted the last part and I jumped about a foot in the air, nearly dropping my bow. A few seconds or so after her outburst my arrow soared through the air and stuck in the target, an inch or so from the center. I grinned and looked back at her.
"I'm getting better," I reasoned. "I mean, I'm okay."
"Okay does not always mean alive," She said in her quick and sharp voice that was accented with deep German tones. "Only superb means alive."
"Superb or gun," I muttered. She looked up, irritated.
"Guns, guns, guns!" She snapped. "All I hear of now. It is ridiculous. We have lost our way of hand-to-hand combat and swordfighting- they've been pushed to side to make way for guns." She sneered the word and crossed her arms, looking back toward the camp of other Daimons. "My husband, he is killed by a hunter because all he had to defend himself was a gun, and that does no good. He tells me, 'Oh, Elsie, I am fine, gun will protect me.', and for this stupidity I am without husband and my child without father."
I bit back the urge to reply, Why was he killed in the first place? Because he was a soul sucking monster, that's why.
But if these...freaky vampire things were going to save my life, I'd try not to insult them too much.
"What's the point in all of this?" I inquired. "When thise whole epic fight scene goes down, you guys are fighting, not me."
"You just stand in corner like frightened child, being defended by Daimons and Dark-Hunters alike?" She snapped back. I paused, notching my bow again.
"Well, no. I just thought...I don't..."
"You are only one who can kill Ebony. She only can be killed by the hand of a member of her family."
I was silent. "How do you know?"
"You and her, you are stuff of myths and legends. I was told stories of you as baby, and I tell them to my son. You are something of a...how do you say it; a boogey man, to us."
"Oh, great. Ivory and Ebony the Evil, right?" I sighed. She shrugged.
"Mostly. But you are known for being weaker than her. Less able to fight." I glared at her, notching another bow and sending it flying. It landed smack dab in the center of the target. I turned around to her again, smirking.
"Less able to fight, weren't those your words?" She nodded coldly. I continued to smirk. "You can eat them now, if you'd like."
She opened her mouth to repond, her brow knit in a glare, and then someone called my name. I turned in the direction of the camp down the hill (I had opted to have my archery lesson away from camp-I didn't like the way the Daimons watched me, like foxes with a snow hare) to see Spawn walking up the hill, his black jeans and sweater standing out against the stark snow.
He looked almost the same as my teacher- tall, fair skined, with white blond hair and unearthly beauty. I smiled, making my way toward him, and he smiled back, though his smile was more grim and less enthusiastic.
"Hi," I said quietly, still smiling to him. He frowned slightly, looking back at the Daimon who had been instructing me.
"Who is that?" He inquired. I glared over at her.
"Elsie something. She's teaching me how to shoot a bow and arrow. Why?" I inquired, feeling the tiniest pinprick of jealousy on my heart.
"She looked sort of familiar, that's all," He said a bit distantly, and I smirked.
"Well, no offense, but most of you Appolites and Daimons tend to look a lot alike," I admitted. He raised an eyebrow, smirking right back at me.
"Well, no offense, but most of you humans tend to look a lot alike," He countered. I rolled my eyes.
"No we don't. You all have the same eyes, hair, skin tone. We don't. We're all one of a kind and most of us are proud of it."
"You!" Yelled Elsie, glaring at Spawn. "Who are you to interrupt my lesson and take my pupil from me?"
"I'm Spawn, that's who," He snapped back. He looked down to me and rolled his eyes.
See? I thought. Irritating as hell.
He nodded, and took hold of my hand as we walked back toward Elsie. She crossed her arms and waited until we reached her before she spoke again. "You are the Appolite hunter," She said, her voice cold and quiet.
"Yes," He said, almost looking uncertain. She smiled warmly and I held his hand tighter.
"Our colony bordered yours. I was quite young when you died. I was sorry to hear of your people's deaths, especially those of your wife and your children. They'd been playmates of mine for a short time. Their deaths were tragedies, they were so young. Younger than I." I looked up at him, wide eyes. I hadn't read much about him on any of the web sites, and the mention of a wife and children was news to me.
Spawn was silent, his gaze distant and remorseful. I could tell he was thinking about his wife-she'd probably been beautiful, like Elsie, and tall, goddess like, blond with blue eyes and flawless skin-
-everything I wasn't. I unlaced our hands without looking at him, and then picked up the bow, nodding to Elsie.
"Thank you, Elsie. I appreciate you helping me. I'll go return this to the Spathi now."
Spawn still said nothing, and he didn't speak until after I'd walked away.
I thought about her words on the way back toward the camp- he'd had a family. A wife and children. What had happened to them? Did the Dark-Hunters themselves have something to do with it? I knew that Zarek was in exile for destroying a human village- had any destroyed an Appolite village?
As much as I felt jealous, I still felt terrible for Spawn. It was obvious that their deaths were not his most treasured memories, and for him to think about them again must have been torture to him.
I tossed the bow into one of the piles of weapons that the Daimons had started and was on my way toward the car, out of the camp, when someone else called me. I looked in the direction of the voice but saw nothing. The voice called out again and I pin pointed it coming from one of the tents set up around the base of the hill. This tent was tall and seemed almost for boding, black with no other color visible, while the other tents were tan or green. I knew whose tent this was. What the hell was he doing in a tent?
"Stryker," I said, nodding to him. He was poring over a map that was rolled out over a large oak desk
(What the hell is a huge fucking desk doing in a tent?)
with two blond men on either side of him. One i recognized as Solomon, the other I did not know.
"A fine welcome I get," He muttered, frowning to me. I sighed, turned around and walked out of the tent, and then returned with my fakest smile, teeth and all, trying to make my expression look borderline orgasmic.
"Oh, Stryker, I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're back! My heart was going to burst from sorrow if you hadn't returned! But all is right with the world again because I'm with you again!" I crossed my arms. "I'd hug you if one of them wasn't liable to rip my head off."
"You know, I think I liked the sullen version more, this one is sort of scary," Noted the other blond man. I frowned at him.
"And who the hell are you?" I demanded. He smirked to me.
"Your worst nightmare."
"Gee, thanks, what movie'd you steal that from?"
He laughed again. "You're lucky you're so important, you impertinent little brat."
"You're lucky I'm not close enough to rack you," I told him, putting my hands on my hips and raising an eyebrow to him.
He rolled his eyes. "Never mind, father, I think I like this version the best. She's got a lot of spunk to speak to someone like me this way."
"I always speak to stupid people like this."
His laughter resounded once more, and Stryker looked up from his map. "Alright, children, stop it. Ivory, this is my son Urian. Urian, this is Ivory Saint-John, the human we're siding with in this little war."
"And why are we doing that?" He asked, raking a sneer over my clothes- a faded grey sweatshirt, old jeans, and a pair of ragged black Chucks. My hair was tied back, but a few peices hung in my face and over my eyes, and I brushed them back, glaring at him.
"Because if I die, the world dies, and Atlantis is resurfaced, and the Destroyer will meet her demise, yadda yadda yadda," I muttered. He looked at me in surprise.
"You don't look that important."
I gave him a devilish grin. "Looks can be decieving, Urian. In actuality, I am the reincarnated soul of an ancient goddess with enough power flowing through my veins to end Olympus and any other Parthenon I might choose to destroy. Any questions?"
"None so far."
"Why am I here, then?" I asked, directing my question to Stryker. "And by the way, I am dead if Ash finds out about you guys helping me."
"He's...occupied for the next two weeks or so. I could destroy the world and he would be none the wiser until he gets back. This little mishap should take no time at all to clear up." He stood, showing how much taller he was than I. I took a step back. "But I need you to secure a place that we can take on Ebony's forces without her completely obliterating the town near here and where we can fight without human interference."
"Why so pro-people all of the sudden?" I asked with a droll sort of a smile. He shrugged.
"I have nothing against eating their souls and destroying their lives, but it gets sort of irritating when police are shooting at you and you're trying to take on an army of the undead."
"Speaking of the UA..." I began, and Stryker gave me a look that was almost confused so I clarified, "Undead Army, I mean, how do we kill them?"
"The same way one would kill a movie vampire. Stake them, chop the body into bits, and either burn them or put the remains in running water."
"Fun," I muttered under my breath. Then louder I responded, "Well, I'll get right on that securing thing. Do you have lasers I can use? Caution tape?"
"You know, I haven't known you five minute and I'm already prepared to kill you," Urian told me. I smirked, blowing him a kiss.
"Aw, I love you too," I responded, winking to him. When his father turned away he flipped me off. I returned his gesture with a not so G-rated gesture of my own.
"I saw both of those," Stryker told us. He pushed a small gun close to me. It looked lke it was loaded with tranquilizers, and I took it, weighing it in my hand. I aimed it at Urian, who glared at me. "No, it's to mark off the territory. Anyone human won't be able to see it, but to one of us it will be visible."
"And what makes you think that the zombies are going to stay within those boundaries?" I inquired. He gave a dark laugh.
"Persuesion in the form of land mines," He told me. I grinned.
"Strykerius, my dear," I said, loading the gun and cocking it, "You are my kind of a man."
"Ew, please do not say something like that in front of me," Groaned Urian. "Kill her already. End my agony."
I shook my head, rolling my eyes and turning toward the tent's exit, and when I reached it I turned around again. "By the way, Urian, I hope I don't run into you on the battlefield. I tend to blur the line between friend and foe when I fight."
"Funny, seeing as how I'm not your friend."
"Well, I'll store that away in my Urian file. Sweet dreams, boys." I turned and walked out into the bitter cold night.
I continued toward the car and I found that Spawn hadn't returned yet. Well, lah-de-freaking-dah. I tried the doors and found them all locked. I sighed, considering just staying here until he came back, but I instead decided to put the gun in my pocket and walk back toward the hill.
When I reached it, I found the two of them still standing shin-deep in the snow talking together, laughing about something and speaking in quiet tones. I glared at them both, and Spawn smiled to me.
"Do you need something, Ivy?" He asked. I glared at him full force, my eyes narrow and a bitter frown on my lips.
"Give me the keys, and for god's sake, don't call me Ivy!"
He gave me a look of shock. "Well, don't call me Lucy and we'll be just fine," He snapped back. Elsie laughed quietly, the sound like ringing bells, and I fought back the urge to tell her to shut the hell up.
"I almost forgot that was your name. Who came up with that ridiculous nickname?" She smiled, not showing fangs.
I glared at her, not speaking as Spawn fished the keys from his pocket and tossed them to me. They landed a bit off target, a few feet back in the snow. I stormed over to retrieve them, cursing them both under my breath all the while, fully aware that they could both hear me loud and clear.
I was halfway down the hill with the keys when someone grabbed me tightly by my arm, dragging me forward at a more rapid pace. I looked up to see Spawn, his face pretty fucking furious as he looked coldly forward.
"I-" I began.
"Don't even speak," He snapped. We were silent until we reached the bottom of the hill, then I ripped my arm away and continued to walk through the camp, trying to not look like a sullen teenager who'd just been reprimanded by a parent. But I couldn't wipe the glare off of my face, no matter how hard I tried to.
"Are you mad?" I asked quietly. He glared at me for a second and then he looked ahead, toward the car.
"Not mad," He said calmly, and then he glared back at me. "Furious."
"Well then," I said, stopping dead in my tracks and crossing my arms. "Maybe I should just stay here. Or go back to Zarek's."
He continued walking, not even stopping to look back at me. "Maybe you should," He called back. I glowered at him, running to catch up. He stopped when he reached the car, and I handed him the keys. He unlocked his door and then mine, and as soon as I shut my door he took off.
The silence was deafening.
"Please don't be mad at me," I pleaded quietly after about ten minutes of nothing but icy terrain and silence. He cut me another sharp look, narrowing his black eyes.
"Why were you being such a...such a bitch?" He demanded. "Elsie wasn't doing anything. She was trying to train you to keep yourself alive. Jesus, Ivy, you can't at least act grateful?"
"It wasn't that," I admitted in a whisper.
"What else was th-Oh." He fell silent. "Don't tell me that you acted like that all because I had a family thousands of years before you were born."
"It's just-"
"That had nothing to do with you," He told me angrily. "Why the hell would you even be bothered by that?"
"Well-"
"You said it yourself. There is never going to be an 'us'. Ever. Understand?"
"Yes," I said, willing myself to stay strong.
"Ivory, I'm sorry, but that's something that neither of us need. I know it's tempting, but-"
"I don't know what you're talking about," I sniffed, crossing my arms and turning away. He sighed, giving me a withering look.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. You've thought about it before."
"So what if I do and so what if I have. Nothing is ever going to happen, like you said."
"Exactly. Which is why I think you should go back to your hotel, just so we can be sure nothing happens." I looked over at him, feeling my heart stop and then start up again at an irregular pace.
"What?" I said in disbelief. He repeated what he'd said. "No, I heard you the first time, but-Why?"
"Because I can't focus on keeping you safe and keeping everyone else safe," He said in an almost irritated tone. I glared at him again.
"Then don't keep me safe!" I yelled. "See if I care!"
"Oh, Ivy," He said quietly. "Like I could ever do that."
I was silent. There was nothing else for me to say. He approached his home after a little more awkward silence, and I got out of the car in frosty silence, storming up the front steps. He unlocked the door and swung it open, and I contunied my warpath up to my spare bedroom. I grabbed my backpack and the suit case that housed some of the clothing from my hotel room.
I dragged it down the stairs, listening to the sound of it hitting the carpeted steps on the way down, and Spawn raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you need some help?"
"Leave me alone," I snapped angrily, dragging my suitcase behind me. He ignored me and picked it up, taking it to the car, and I pushed my backpack in after it. After this was finished I got into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut.
"You don't want to come in for a while?" He inquired.
"Why should I?" I muttered, crossing my arms and turning away. "The sooner you can get back to your oh-so important existance, the better."
He sighed, opening my door again and standing to the side of my seat. I tried to avoid his eyes contact but he took my face into his hands gently and made me look into his eyes.
"You know just as well as I do why I chose to do this. You're making it sound as though I'm kicking you out."
"Because you are." He frowned at me.
"You're making it sound as if I don't think you're important anymore."
"Because you don't."
"You're making it sound as though I'm abandoning you."
"Again, because you are."
"Well-"
"Listen, we could stand here all night and go over all the things I've ever gotten wrong in my life, or you could take me back to my hotel. The sooner the better, like I said."
He sighed, shutting the door and walking around to his side. He started the car and drove away from the home in silence, and I had the feeling that the car ride was going to consist of this again.
"Ivory?" He remarked quietly. I looked over.
"What?" I snapped.
"I'm sorry," He said softly.
Those words almost brought me to tears, they sounded so sincere and heartfelt. As it was, I turned the other way to look out at the snow.
"I hope you are," I whispered back, letting my bangs fall into my eyes to hide the fact that I was close to tears. Of course, it didn't hide that face from the stupid all-powerful-immortal-vampire-slayer-with-super-mind-reading-powers, but I tried my best. And when he looked over at me with black eyes that showed almost nothing but pity, I felt my heart shatter into a million little icy pieces.
We reached the hotel in Fairbanks after a short drive, and I got out of the car, pulling my bags behind me through the snow. Once again, Spawn followed me, taking the suitcase from me and carrying it himself. I glared up at him.
"I don't need your help," I remarked curtly. He raised and eyebrow but said nothing more on the subject.
We approached the front desk, and I retrieved one of my room keys. I tried to take my suitcase from Spawn, but he wouldn't let me take it from him. He shook his head, holding onto its handle tighter.
"I'll just take it up to your room, I don't mind."
"Fine," I sighed, walking in the direction of the elevator. When we approached it, he pressed the call button and we waited in silence again.
"Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow to take you to the camp?"
"Not really, no," I remarked, trying to sound calmer than I felt. As it was, my heart was still beating in irregular time and I could barely keep a hold on my breathing as to keep from hyperventilating. "I have the snow mobile. I'll just call Solomon of Isla to find out where it is. Or, hey, I could catch a ride with one of them. A car full of Daimons can't be that bad."
"That's really dangerous."
"And you're not supposed to be worrying about me. I'm not your problem anymore." I crossed my arms and stepped into the elevator when the doors slowly slid open.
"You know exactly why I can't do that," He remarked, sounding like a parent with an unruly child. He sighed, shaking his head, and when the doors slowly opened again on the third floor, he continued, "I took an oath to protect any humans."
"Well there I was, feeling pretty special for a second," I snapped back sarcastically. He frowned at me.
"You know, you're not being very mature about all of this," He told me. I crossed my arms and turned around to face him, glaring at him.
"Yeah, try to be in my shoes. I get plunked down in the middle of fucking nowhere, have to be the squire to a psychopath, rescue this poor little appolite kid who turns out to not even be an appolite and then his zombie mom attacks us. I keep getting visions of things I've never wanted to know about from my twin who apparently hates my fucking guts and is gunning for me, and then I find out that every time I get them they kill me a little bit more and there's nothing I can do to stop them. Oh, and then my mom starts talking to me in my mind about how I have to resurrect our pantheon, and I have to make an army to take on these freaky undead zombie things. That army turns out to be run by my mortal enemy, and so I'm fighitng alongside a group of Spathi Daimons.
"I meet this nice guy, and I think, hey, maybe my luck is changing! But he kicks me out because I'm too much of a distraction and then I'm right back at square one, unprotected and scared out of my fucking mind." I uncrossed my arms and turned around again, looking for my room's number. "So yeah, excuse me for not being so mature, but I'm king of losing it over this fight."
He didn't respond, and then I found my room, unlocking it and tossing my backpack inside. I snatched my suitcase from Spawn and then I put it on the other side of the door, and then I tried to slam the door shut. I couldn't, though, because Spawn placed his hand on the door frame, and while I was feeling like a bitch, it wasn't him I wanted to hurt.
He opened the door fully and stepped inside, looking around.
"Can you please just leave now?" I snapped.
He looked over at me, frowning again. "In a minute." Instead of leaving, though, he sat down on one of the beds, putting his arms behind him to support him. "I'm sorry, again. I know that you're going through a stressful time, and me making you leave isn't helping. But Ivy, you have to trust me when I say it's for the best. Having you with me...Acheron and Zarek were right, something will happen and you'll be hurt, and it will all be my fault."
I felt tears stinging my eyes again at the worry in his voice. "I'm fully grown," I said calmly. "I can take care of myself. I'm pretty much an expert in not getting myself maimed or killed."
"I wasn't talking about physical pain."
I fell silent, not knowing what to say in response to this. I looked over at the clock. It was 4:51 AM.
"You should get home," I told him quietly. He looked to the clock too, and he nodded.
"Goodbye, Ivory," He said, his voice little more than a whisper, standing and then leaning down to kiss my forehead. Before I could respond again he was gone.
I waited until Iwas totally sure he couldn't hear me before I threw myself to my bed and cried, burying my face in one of the pillows and thinking about how fucking unfair my life had become in the last week.
After I had finished my cry fest, I fell asleep on the duvet of the hotel bed, falling into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep. It was as I was drifting off that I remembered the task that Stryker had given me. Oh well, when I woke up again I'd get right on that. Maybe if I went out to secure the battlefield during the day, I'd have less of a chance of running into Spawn. And if I did, well, I would be the least of his worries.
When I awoke again, faint sunlight was seeping through curtained windows, I rolled away from the light, trying to avoid becoming fully awake. Resistance was futile, however, because my mind began to run at a million miles an hour again and I realized that there was no way I would be able to fall back to sleep.
Opening my eyes slowly and looking around, I realized something else. I was in the small hotel room I'd rented only a few days ago. Oh, god, it hadn't been just some terrible dream. I'd actually been kicked out.
I rubbed my hands over my eyes, trying to fully wake up but not wanting to remember the events of this morning, or last night, or whatever. I rolled out of bed, brushing a hand through my hair. God, I needed to shower.
I walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind me, and then I stared into my reflection in the mirror. My eyes appeared wild, stormy grey and smeared with unwashed black make-up, my hair a rat's nest of tangled curls and frizzing up in the back. I was still wearing the jeans and the tank top that I'd had on under my sweatshirt. I turned on the faucet and splashed water on my face. My make-up ran down my cheeks like black rivers and I wiped it away with the back of my hand.
I turned away from the mirror to turn on the shower, and as I stepped inside a minute later, I heard something from outside that sounded like the handle of the door being turned rapidly. I tried to ignore it, rationalyzing it away as house cleaning, but when it continued I turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around myself before carefuly and quietly opening the door leading out into the room.
I was shocked to see that the door had been thrown open and that the lock was broken on it, melted like plastic in a fire. I covered myself up more tightly as I searched the room. Nothing was missing-my computer was still on the bed, along with my cell phone, and my mp3 player was laying on the bedside table. So what had been the point in someone breaking in?
Seeing the door close out of the corner of my eye, I looked and saw a tall shape emerging from the darkness behind the door. I was frozen with fear until I saw Iccarius smirking at me, taking in my lack of clothing and the look of horror on my face.
Then my fear wasn't frozen. I started screaming bloody murder and he snapped his fingers. My voice was gone.
I clutched at my throat with the hand that wasn't holding up my towel, and then he aproached me with a slow predator's gait, his gaze hypnotizing and heated.
I stepped back, hitting the wall by the window, and I ripped open the curtains, sincerely hoping that he was just a Daimon on steriods with black hair and a tan.
Let's just say he's not.
He made a move to grab for my wrist and I pulled away, still fighting him and trying to scream. He pushed me against the wall, a hand at my throat, pinning me there easily, and I felt my eyes go huge. How had he gotten in here?
"It's a public place, open to Daimons, demons, whatever you are, and anyone else who wants to show up." I felt a surge of surprise. He was reading minds now?
"Whenever I kill a demon or one of Artemis' hunters, I can absorb their powers," He told me with a sly, wicked grin. I gasped and was rewarded for the action with a sharp pain in my throat.
Not Spawn, I thought quickly. Dear god, anyone but Spawn...
"What about Eli?" He said with another evil smile. "Or...What was her name? Branwen, wasn't it?"
I felt realization hit me and then boiling rage. I kicked at him, still trying to scream. He continued to speak, a hand on my throat. "I tried to catch up with you earlier, when you first came back onto the radar because you'd become a Squire. I kept trying to get you stationed closer to Greece, perhaps if you were close enough Ebony would shut the fuck up and kill you already, but no matter how many of your hunters I destroyed, you kept being assigned to the U.S." He gave me an evil smile again. "So we brought the death and destruction to you. Ebony wants to meet you, Ivory."
I used what little energy I had left to spit in his face. He snarled, throwing me against an adjacent wall.
"You evil little bitch!" He shrieked, running at me to kick me. I rolled away, but he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me up, holding a knife to my throat. My hands, which were holding onto my towel, shook, and I struggled still to regain my voice. "Get dressed. We're leaving."
He pushed me down roughly onto one of the beds, near my suitcase. I picked out my clothes and walked toward the bathroom, breaking eye contact with him. As I reached it, though, the door slammed shut. Great. Telekinesis.
"I am not letting you out of my sight," He said, narrowing his eyes at me. I stayed covered up in my towel, glaring at him, and he shook his head. "And unless you plan on walking out into the snow with no clothes on, you should get dressed."
"Stop watching me. Jesus, close your eyes or something."
"Why should I?" He snapped. "You are my wife."
"No, buddy, I'm not. News flash, that was 2,000 years ago. I'm a completely different person now."
"It shows. My Ivory would never speak to me in such a disrespecting tone."
"Maybe if you hadn't pushed your Ivory off of a cliff, she wouldn't hate you so much!" I snapped angrily. He rolled his eyes, and I threw the towel over his face. By the time he'd regained his composure, I had most of my clothes on. I turned around while I was putting on my shirt, and I mirrored his glare when I turned around once more.
"I'm coming back, right?" I joked. He gave me a withering look.
"What the hell do you think?" He snapped, glaring at me. I shrugged. "We're been trying to track you down for 2,000 years to kill you."
"I'm aware of that. Have fun unleashing the apocolypse, asshole. I'll be laughing my ass off in Tartarus while you burn."
"Such big talk for someone so small," He laughed, taking a step toward me to demonstrate the differences in our heights. I merely shrugged.
"Not too small to kick your ass," I remarked, drawing myself up to my full height and placing my hands on my hips, resting my weight on my right leg.
"We'll see about that," He replied nonchalantly, pushing me toward the door. "Now come on. We have an engagement to keep."
He took a rough grip on my arm and dragged me out of the room, not bothering to shut the door behind us. I had planned to make a scene if he took me through the lobby in the hopes of getting away, but he instead opted to force me onto the stairs.
I gave him an angry glare. "Asshole," I muttered.
"Shut up, would you?"
"Why should I?"
He gave an angry growl, pushing me up against the wall of the stairwell. I half expected the creep to kiss me, so I was unprepared for the words that he hissed in my ear.
"Because if you aren't quiet and cooperative, I will slit your throat and leave you in the snow for the wolves."
His words were dangerous and dark and there was no reason not to think that he wouldn't make good on his threat.
"What an image," I said, struggling to move away from him. He placed his a hand on both sides of the wall I was trapped against, and he brought his face toward mine to whisper in my ear.
"Well, if that doesn't compel you to listen, how about this?" His voice became quieter and I could feel his breath on my earlobe. "If you don't cooperate with us, I will kill your Hunter."
"Zarek?" I inquired, trying to keep my voice steady. No, of course that wasn't the Hunter he spoke of.
"What is his name..." He acted as though he couldn't remember. "Ah. Of course, there it is, right on the forefront of your mind." He tapped my temple, grinning to me like the villian of a cartoon. "Spawn."
"Don't you dare touch him!" I cried, feeling horror rip through me like a bullet. Iccarius laughed, and the deep sound made me want to hit him more than ever before, and then he continued.
"Why, is that love in your tone?" He laughed. "Or is it merely a protective instinct?"
"Shut up," I whispered, closing my eyes and turning away.
He grabbed my face to turn it towards his, and believe me, it didn't for one second feel the same as when Spawn did that. Not the same at all. Iccarius was violent and whiny and in love with himself, and Spawn was...
Spawn was none of those things. Well, maybe violent toward Daimons, but never toward me.
Iccarius was apparently reading my thoughts as soon as they came into my head. "Aw, is the Ice Queen's heart thawing?"
"Just like your mind," I muttered. He glared at me again, removing his hands from the wall and snatching my arm again and pulling me down the stairs. I knew better than to struggle, and as it was, I was lost in my own thoughts. If I accompanied Iccarius back to their camp, I would be killed. If I didn't, Spawn would be.
So I followed him.
He led me to one of the cars in the parking lot after disabling the alarm on the emergency exit, and I studied the sleek black Porche with disinterest. Yeah, it was a nice car, but I really fucking hated the driver, so that kind of took the awesomeness away from it. Kind of.
He pushed me roughly into the passenger seat, and before I had even had time to blink he was in his seat. He searched under his seat for something, and then he tied my hands together tightly with rope. I rolled my eyes at him.
"You're such a fucking cliche," I muttered. He shot me a glare and I fell silent.
At least for a minute, until the car started and we headed away from Fairbanks. Then I started humming.
"What the hell are you singing?"
"Not singing," I corrected him. "Humming."
"What the fuck is the difference," Sighed the young, evil man. "And what is it? Some weird chant?"
"No," I said, pushing my feet up on the dash board. "If you must know, it's Cohen's Masterpiece."
"Never heard of it. Jesus, can't you sing something good, like AC/DC?"
"Why don't you?" I snapped.
"Because I don't sing."
"Neither do I. I hum."
"Well, cut it out."
"Make me, tough guy."
People have the habit of solving the issue of my big mouth with Duct Tape. As I quickly learned, Iccarius is no different.
We stopped on the side of the road a while later by a large open Field of white, much like the hill that housed Stryker's troops' tents. I looked up.
This sure doesn't look like a camp, I thought to him. He gave me an evil smile.
"Just get out of the damn car," He demanded.
I held up my tied hands, and he sighed.
"Do I have to do everything?"
Untie me. Problem solved.
"Oh, that's likely." He opened his door and a second later ripped open mine. "Now walk."
Where?
"Toward the trees. If you run, I have permission to kill you."
Okay, asshole.
I stated humming again just to piss him off.
We reached the clearing in the trees eventually, and I sat down on one of the stumps, realizing with a surge of shock where we were now.
It was the clearing in the woods behind La Vie Nocturne.
Oh, awesome memories are attached to that place. I grabbed at my ankle as phantom pain creeped into it.
Iccarius approached me, holding a hand behind his back, and smiling nonchalantly. I didn't trust that look for a second. I backed up, wishing I could curse him out loudly. As it was, there was a strip of fucking Duct Tape in the way.
"You know," He began calmly, "I heard you had an encounter similar to this with our dear dead doctor." I stood on unsteady legs, and Iccarius caught my wrist, pulling the knife from behind his back again. "Consider this his revenge."
And then before I could react, he slit my throat and I dropped to the ground. He walked to the edge of the clearing before looking back at me.
"Live in fear of your Gods no longer," He said, in a sick repeat of words he'd said two thousand years ago. "You've set us all free, little goddess."