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I settled on the leather sofa, perching on the edge and bouncing my leg up and down. My lip took the brunt of my anxiety as I nibbled on it. Alastor dropped down next to me and placed a calming hand over mine.
"We will find your mom," he promised.
"I thought you weren't even supposed to help mortals. You saved my life, and now you are helping to save my mom's." I flopped back, my hands folded across my stomach as I angled my head in his direction. Now was as good as a time as any to talk about the conversation we had in the woods.
He followed my motions with only his eyes. I couldn't read his expression, but I knew it wasn't joy at the fact he was breaking the rules.
"You know, food might not be the way to my heart, but this heroic shit you keep doing. That is," I said. "I do love food though," I added as my stomach gave a loud protest, reminding me I had missed dinner since I had been so focused on finding my mom since lunch, and at the rate we were going, I'd be missing breakfast too.
A lump of air got caught in my chest at the searing look he gave me. If it was another time and my mom wasn't currently in danger, I would be all over that, and we'd be doing the horizontal dance in no time. The awareness shot through me, pooling between my legs. Bellamy's head snapped in my direction, and I pressed my thighs together. Crap, his sniffer was good.
"Noted. Heroic shit is a way into your heart," he repeated my words, only he made them sound like a caress made only for me. A promise of the future.
I smiled as I tugged my gaze back to Lex, and Jacob huddled over a map of the area. I felt so useless in that moment, it wasn't a feeling I was used to. In the past I'd always been the strong one, the fighter, but it was as if someone had sliced my Achilles' heel by taking my mom. If this was a fraction of what Brook went through while she searched for her mom, I understood her more now.
Rubbing absently at my chest, I sighed as I pushed myself to my feet and crossed the space. Juliana and a few of her men were on the other sofa talking softly amongst themselves, even not hearing the words I could tell they were a family. Watching them was like dangling a carrot in front of my face, saying 'look at what you could have.'
The large man, Oliver, stepped next to Jacob and watched what they were doing.
"You guys don't have to help," I said as I approached them. They both looked up at me like I was crazy.
"We are demon hunters too, only the warlock variety, it is our job to locate and eliminate demons that are causing chaos. If we find your mom in the process, that is a bonus," Oliver replied. He held his hands behind his back as he turned his attention back to the map as a line drew across it, coaxed by magic.
"Ollie, don't be so mean." Jacob nudged him, and he scowled at the nickname. "He is a big softy under all of his prickly shields."
I would take his word for it.
"I appreciate it regardless of why you are doing it," I said.
Lex's fingers trailed over my side, and Jacob's gaze locked on the movement. "Don't call me when your mom comes to visit," he said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Nyx expressly told me to tell him to stay away from the hunter. Now, here he is, right in the middle of your life," Jacob replied.
"Why doesn't your mom want you around me?" I swung my gaze to his, pinning him in place.
He scratched the back of his neck and ran his hand over his beard, smoothing it down before he said, "You are a descendant of Artemis. There is bad blood between them, because of what she had the fates do to Orion."
"But wasn't it Apollo that put Orion in the stars?"
"Technically, yes, but the story is a little more detailed than that," Lex said.
"That is ancient history. I'm sure Artemis is over whatever it was by now," I said.
"You don't know Artemis," Alastor said as he came up behind us. "She doesn't forget, Orion was the love of her life. Why do you think each hunter takes on the same last name, Orion? Why do you think you are a demon hunter? It is because they are apart of the darkness that Nyx inhabits, if the demons die, she will hold less power."
"I thought your dad, Hades, was the King of the Underworld."
"Yeah, but the Underworld is not the same as the darkness. The demons strengthen any of the gods that reign in Tartus, Nyx and my dad are both included in those numbers."
If Brook was here, she would eat up every bit of this Greek Mythology. Even though if an actual God was telling me it, was it a myth?
It dawned on me then why he was sent to get Bellamy. It wasn't to stop him from causing chaos here; they wanted to make sure the future King didn't die and weaken the horde.
"Well, if that is the case, Artemis would like both you and Lex because you have both killed your fair share of demons with me. How are you doing that if only my dagger is supposed to do that?"
"It's true that only a mortal wielding a dagger, like yours, can end a demon, but any being from Tartus can also do it."
