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Acheron staggered away froh hiainst the wall and watched as his skin turned blue His breathing was ragged as his teeth grew to large fangs and his vision became cloudy

He wanted Artemis&039;s blood so badly, he could taste it More than that, he wanted to rip her throat out

"Daave her to you and you rejected her"

He spun around to glare at her "You said, &039;I have a baby for you&039; Not &039;I had your baby,&039; Arteht the baby was nothingto you fro to pawn off on me to make amends for my dead nephew, and you knew that" All of her handmaidens had come into her service in such afor people to leave infants as offerings to the gods

He raked his hands through his hair as h hi man on the cold stone slab, chained down and held in place by servants as the surgeon came forith a scalpel

Acheron hissed and flinched at the reed, he approached Artemis with his hands clenched into fists so that he didn&039;t begin choking her "They sterilized me There&039;s no way I could father a child It&039;s not possible"

Her face hardened "As a human you were sterile But on your twenty-first birthday" His godhood had been unlocked

He wiped his hands over his face as he remembered that All the scars on his body had been removed Physically, he&039;d been restored

Obviously it hadn&039;t all been on the surface That night ery, too Dammit, how could he have been so stupid?

"Why didn&039;t you tell lared at him "I tried You wouldn&039;t listen to me or speak to me &039;I hate you, Artemis Go die&039; That&039;s all I heard frorief assailed hinored her Dear gods, ould have thought this hat she&039;d been trying to tell hihter out to him and he&039;d cursed her for it Now he cursed hi so damn blind and stupid How could he not have known? How could he have allowed his anger at her to blind hi so important?

He could kill himself for his own stupidity He had denied his own child Gods only knehat she must think of him and his rejection

"It&039;s been eleven thousand years, Artemis You know, you could have mentioned this to me before now"

Her eyes were filled with tears "I wanted to hurt you then I held her out to you and you insultedelse in this universe You have no idea what I went through trying to prevent anyone froh her birth alone, with no attendants No one to help me in any way I didn&039;t have to have her, you know"

Arte to hurt hi to let her get aith it "Then why did you?"

"She was a part of you and she wasin my life that has ever been purely mine There was no way I wouldn&039;t have had her By the tirown I didn&039;t see the point of losing you over so I couldn&039;t help when I&039;d already done everything I knew to do to h "I&039;hter and I&039;er to her Thank you"

"Don&039;t be so surly I didn&039;t have her long to myself before she went behind my back to find your mother She&039;s just like her father-ever out to punish me when all I want to do is hold her"

He went cold at her words You&039;ve got to be kidding me

"My mother knows about her?"

"Of course the bitch does I had to give up hter to your ht in New Orleans when Stryker was about to kill you"

Ash seethed in anger even though he didn&039;t knohy He&039;d been screwed over by his mother and Artemis more times than he could count There had never been a woman in his life who hadn&039;t lied and betrayed hi he&039;d ever known And even she had gone behind his back to seduce his best friend She&039;d lost her innocence and he&039;d gained an ene until Ash was dead

Or until Ash killed him

Yeah, women were the very bane of Ash&039;s entire existence He wished he&039;d been born gay so that he would have spared himself centuries of pain at their hands

But there was nothing he could do to change the past Letting out a long, angry breath, he glared at Artehter now?"

"That&039;s why I&039;m here I sent her to kill Sin"

"You what!"

Artemis squeaked and put more distance between them "Don&039;t worry She&039;s too much like you and wouldn&039;t do it So I had to call out Deiuess Deimos is on the loose now after both of them?"

She nodded "I told him not to hurt Katra, but he doesn&039;t listen And sohter"

Now it all made sense "You want hed in disbelief

"Don&039;t shake your head at od-killer His powers are nothing colare at her "Oh, you have no idea, Artie Not really In fact, you&039;re lucky I don&039;t cut you down right nohere you stand"

"You can&039;t You swore you wouldn&039;t"

"Yeah, but I&039;ht be worthshe was right If he died, it would unleash his o up in a fiery blaze Da about that

He released a slow breath before he asked Queen Dense the obvious "So how can I protect hter if you won&039;t let me out of here for two o to her But she has to be in danger first"

Ash paused at hearing his daughter&039;s name for the first time

"Katra? In Greek, it meant "pure"

Arte her hand up, she sue of Katra&039;s face so that he could see her

Tears gathered in his eyes as he saw the beauty of his daughter, but he refused to let thee, he was stunned to realize that he did know her It was the face he&039;d seen in his dreams The blond woman he couldn&039;t identify Somehow his mind ling to tell him

"Have I ever seen her?" he asked, his voice barelyout with the other koris when you showed up unexpectedly You glanced at her before I made you look at me"

He remembered that He&039;d been struck by the fact that one of the koris was obviously taller than Arte a woman taller than her around her "The tall blonde"

"Yes"

Ash sed the pain that swelled inside of him To think he&039;d been that close to her it cut him deep "Does she know about me?"

"I never kept the identity of her father from her It hy she went to visit yoursettled deep in his stomach "What did you tell her, Artie? That I rejected her?"

Her eyes snapped fire at hi me, too Really tired Had you been decent to me, you would have known all about her So don&039;t you dare take that hostile tone withYou were the one alked out on her I was there for her, raising her, while you were off pouting"

Pouting Yeah That was so hi to use his powers and had been trying to control a very young Simi who had never been in the huht hi

And he&039;d had no one to turn to His mother had been bitter and irrational every tied without cessation If Savitar hadn&039;t appeared to him to show him how to channel and use his powers, he&039;d have been completely lost

But that was the past and he couldn&039;t change it All he could do was hter from this point forward "Simi!"

He&039;d barely finished the call before Siht "Can you come hoht now But I have an assignment for you"

She looked a bit confused "You do?"

"Yeah I apparently have someone I need you to watch over I want you toat all happens to her Do you understand? "

Simi paled "You don&039;t want the Sioddess, do you? &039;Cause no offense, akri, that would just be wrong, and I love you, but that&039;sEven Diamonique"

He smiled at her honesty "Not Artemis, Sim I need you to watch over a woman named Katra"

She scowled at his request "Akra-Kat?"

A bad feeling went through hiood thing

Artehter, twit"

Simi turned on her with an arch look "Twit? Moi? The Siotten herself confused She thinks she&039;s me, not that I blame her All women want to be me because of my beautoneousness and the fact that I have such stylish clothing and sparkliers But believe oddess"

"Oh, please, you stupid demon Like I would ever want to be you"

Simi&039;s eyes flashed dark so fast that Ash barely had tioddess "No, Siain and she&039;s the least of your concerns"

Arteht I can&039;t But you never said I couldn&039;t give you over to et to eat the bitch goddess? Oh, goodie!"

Artemis vanished instantly

Ash would have taken satisfaction in that if he wasn&039;t so upset He released Sihter?"

She lowered her chin like a child afraid of a spanking-sory at his siainst his chest "How could I be angry at you?" She was the only thing in his life that had ever loved him without conditions or e hurt that she&039;d kept this secret "I just wish you&039;d told oddess said it would make you cry to know She said it would hurt you so much-like she hurts &039;cause she can&039;t have you with her I didn&039;t want you to sit and cry like akra does"

He tightened his hold on her "I know, Sim It&039;s okay"

She pulled back to look up at him "Are you sad, akri?"

"A little"

She took his hand into hers "The Simi didn&039;t mean to hurt you, akri"

"Oh, baby, you didn&039;t hurt ently, " &039;cause if you&039;re not all right, I&039;ll eat the heifer-goddess for you and make it all better"

He smiled at her "You can&039;t do that"

She pouted "Just a little nip? Maybe her heel or a finger She&039;d neverup and then, well, who cares Well maybe you, but no one else would"

"No, Sim Your little nips are the size of a shark bite I need you to find Katra for ht where she is I just left her"

His jaent slack Though to be honest, at this point he didn&039;t knohy anything shocked hioddess like I do They asked for allu demons you used to let me eat Apparently, there&039;s a bunch of them out now" She reached into her purse and pulled out a bottle of barbecue sauce "I&039; to understand "The gallu are loose now?"

She nodded "Sin said they&039;re coood appetizer for us"

Yeah, and enough to do serious dae to the human race "Go, Simi Watch over Katra for me"

"Okay, akri But don&039;t be sad" She blew him a kiss before she vanished

He let out a tired breath as he surveyed the e apart and he was trapped here because of Artemis&039;s insatiable libido Where was the justice in that? "What the hell&039;s going on?" He had to know

Closing his eyes, he tried to locate Sin and the gallu, but all he saas a haze with no real forh He usually had a hard ti belohile he was in Artemis&039;s temple She didn&039;t want him to know since it would make him even more restless to leave than he already was

But there was one person who could tell him what he needed to know

He returned to the balcony outside Arte his eyes again, he let his ensyneiditos travel out of his body, through the cosarden It was the only break he was allohile here Because the ensyneiditos was simply the conscious part of himself and not his body, he could use it to visit others while trapped on Olympus

It was also the only way he could ever visit with his mother If he ever appeared to her in the flesh, it would release her from her prison and allow her to destroy the world-which was her one goal in life

His goal was to prevent that

Floating into Kalosis, he found her sitting near the pool in the back The obsidian rocks were as iridescent as her pale skin as she scythed by using the black water to make a sfora His mother had lifted a portion of the water up to for ball in the air

But what stunned him was the woman who stood beside her It was a face he&039;d seen before, but only in his dreah of her hter

"Katra?"

The ball splintered and fell in droplets back to the water as the two of thereen eyes looked into his, he wanted to cry But pain was nothing new to hi it that it didn&039;t even require any real effort on his part

"Apostolos," his mother said breathlessly before she rose to her feet She looked back and forth between thery?"

Kat couldn&039;t move as she waited for an answer By the way he&039;d said her name, she knew someone had told him about her And she couldn&039;t believe her father was here with them But she kneasn&039;t really here He was only an apparition He couldn&039;t have any real contact with hisat Kat with a stern expression

She&039;d dreamt of this moment where he knew her for what she was millions of times in her life Only in her dreams she was filled with happiness, not trepidation She&039;d tried to i, but none of them had co him If only she could His cold demeanor was such that she was afraid to even move

"Dad?" she asked hesitantly

He looked away as a single tear fled down his cheek and he faded away froathered in her throat to bitterly choke her

Her grandmother placed a tender hand on her shoulder "Go to him, Katra He needs you"

She nodded before she flashed herself from Kalosis to Olympus She was on the balcony where she&039;d frolicked and played as a child

And her father was only a few feet from her

Kat wasn&039;t sure what to say or do She wanted to run to hi came to mind while she felt his pain and sorrow

He stood as still as a statue, gazing out on the garden below

Suddenly he gasped as his consciousness returned to his body Her heart stopped the instant he turned toward her and aze

Her tears flowed down her cheeks as her erily at them "I don&039;t normally do this I&039;m really not that emotional"

Still he didn&039;t speak He merely walked toward her as if he couldn&039;t believe what he was seeing He stopped just before her and stared at her as if she were a wraith

Up close, he seeer Much hter to be intiree by her father But she was honestly scared

"Have you had a good life?" he asked in a gentle tone

That single question only made her cry harder as she nodded "I only wanted for one thing"

"And that was?"

"You"

Ash couldn&039;t breathe as his own tears fell from his eyes It infuriated hi e that he was a cohter, tore him apart

How many children had he coddled and protected over the centuries? Howhe had his own, but convinced that he was incapable of it? Now to learn that he&039;d had a daughter all this time

It was so unfair

He sed as he ached to reach out to touch her but was afraid she&039;d shove him away like everyone else in his past Surely she lect He wouldn&039;t blame her if she did God knows, he&039;d felt that hen he learned about his real parents He&039;d despised the there when he needed comfort or love

Until now, he hadn&039;t realized how hard his firstwith his mother must have been for her

"I don&039;t even knohat to say to you," he whispered

"Me, either I guess we&039;ll just stand here and cry at each other, huh?"

He laughed at her unexpected hu you?"

Ash held his arms out, and before he could move she ran to him The feel of her there as he wrapped his arms around her rattled hihter His true flesh and blood A wave of possessive pride ripped through hih to almost drown hier on the night she&039;d learned about his past He wanted to hurt anyone who&039;d ever hurt Kat

The guilt over not being there

Not once in Kat&039;s life had he held her Never had she cried and felt his co about him other than the fact that he had donated DNA to make her His only comfort was that he&039;d never known about her existence

How much worse had it been for his o to hiainst Kat&039;s hair as he cradled her head in his palm "I didn&039;t know"

"I know you didn&039;t"

Still he wanted her to understand just how sorry he felt "Why didn&039;t you ever co I was afraid you&039;d be mad at ry You hated Arte you to her"

He pulled back and cupped her face in his hands "I could never hate you"

Kat had waited her whole life to hear those words, as athered in her eyes To feel the touch of her father It was so ined "I love you, Dad"

Ash let out a sob as pain wracked hi "I&039;m so sorry, Katra"

"Me, too I should have told you I know that But I really didn&039;t knohat you&039;d do to Moh "I probably would have" He shook his head as he looked her up and down "You&039;re so beautiful I wish I&039;d seen you as a child"

She gave hirin "You didn&039;t hed "I seriously doubt that"

"It&039;s true, and I was really hideous as a preteen Tall and gawky I used to bu Still do sohter"

"Sure I a uncoordinated"

"Oh, I assure you I&039;ve nailed quite a few signs with my forehead It&039;s a wonder &039;Exits&039; isn&039;t perh filled his ears and et over how si into asomeone else&039;s face in your stead

But his joy was cut short by another fear as he realized just how siht have ood to you?"

A slow smile spread across her face "For her, yeah I mean other than the fact I could never call her Matisera unless ere alone, she really was good"