"I'm smiling, princess. But not broadly. No teeth."

"Or fangs?"

"Or fangs."

She leaned forward and kissed him again. "I'll bet you're gorgeous when you smile."

He grunted at that, then helped her dress.

Astrid snuggled up to him once more so that she could hear the rhythm of his heart. She loved the sound of it, the feel of his strength beneath her.

Even though their lives were in danger, she felt oddly safe here.

With him.

Or so she thought.

In the stillness, she heard a strange scratching sound above them.

Zarek jerked up.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Someone's upstairs in my cabin."

Horror consumed her. "You think it's Thanatos?"

"Yes."

He moved her gently off him and stood her against the wall. Terrified, she remained perfectly still as she listened to his movements and to those above.

Zarek grabbed a grenade, then reconsidered. The last thing he wanted was to trap them underground. He pulled on his spare set of silver claws that covered every finger of his left hand, and moved down the hallway back toward the trapdoor that was underneath his stove.

He heard light footsteps above him.

Then a curse.

Suddenly, there was silence again.

Zarek strained, desperate to hear who was up there and what they were doing.

A strange shiver went down his spine as the air behind him stirred.

He turned expecting to see Astrid.

It wasn't her.

Chapter 13

Standing behind him was an odd demonic woman with long blond hair, pointed ears, and large, batlike wings. She was cute in a very strange sort of way.

She stared at him without moving.

Zarek attacked.

Instead of fighting, she turned with a squeak and ran for the back of the cave.

Zarek followed her, intending to stop her before she reached Astrid, but he couldn't.

The demon ran straight for her and to his astonishment she rushed behind Astrid and put her between them. The demon's wings constricted and folded in around her body as if to protect her.

The demon placed a hand on Astrid's shoulder as she eyed him cautiously. "Tell him to leave me alone, Astrid. Else I'll have to barbecue him and makeakri angry at me. I don't want to makeakri angry."

Astrid covered the demon's hand with hers. "Simi? Is that you?"

"Yes.C'est moi . The little demon with hornays."

Zarek lowered his claws. "You two know each other?"

Astrid frowned as she faced him again. "Don't you know her?"

"She's a demon. Why would I know her?"

"Because she's Acheron's companion."

Completely stunned, Zarek gaped at the small creature who did have odd eyes much like Acheron's. They were pale and glowing, but hers were rimmed with red.

"Ash has a companion?"

The demon snorted. She stood up and whispered loudly in Astrid's ear. "Dark- Hunters are cute, but very stupid."

He gave her a peeved glare as Astrid choked back a laugh.

"What are you doing here, Simi?" Astrid asked.

The demon looked around the tunnel and pouted in a way that reminded him of a small child. "Feeling peckish. Is there any food? Something not too heavy. Maybe a cow or two?"

"No, Simi," Astrid said. "No food." The demon made a rude noise as she stepped away from Astrid. " 'No, Simi. No food,' " she mocked. "You sound likeakri . 'Don't eat that, Simi, you'll cause an ecological disaster.' What is an ecological disaster, that's what I want to know?Akri says it's me on hunger binge, but I don't think that's quite right, but that's all he'll say about it."

Disregarding both of them, the demon began searching through his weapons.

She grabbed a grenade and tried to bite into it.

Zarek snatched it away from her. "That's not food."

The demon opened her mouth as if to speak, then snapped it shut. "Why are you in a dark hole, Astrid? Did you fall?"

"We're hiding, Simi."

"Hiding?" She snorted again. "From what?"

"Thanatos."

"Pffft..." The demon rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. "Why you hiding from that loser? He wouldn't even make good barbecue. Barely take the edge off my peckishness. Hmmm... How come there's no food here?" She looked speculatively at Astrid.

Zarek stepped between them.

The demon stuck her tongue out at him and returned to searching his supplies.

"Why are you here?" Zarek asked.

The demon ignored him. "Where's Sasha, Astrid? He'd make good barbecue.

Something about that wolf meat. Very tasty once you get all that hair off.

Barbecued hair not particularly tasty, but it'll do in a pinch."

"He's not here, thankfully. But why are you here without Acheron?"

"Akritold me to come."

"Who isakri ?" Zarek asked.

Simi ignored him.

"Acheron," Astrid explained. "Akriis an Atlantean term for 'lord and master.'"

He scoffed at that. "Well, la-di-da. No wonder he has such a big head, with a pet demon following him around, calling him 'lord and master.'"

Astrid gave him an agitated look. "He's not like that, Zarek, and you'd best not insult him around the Simi. She tends to take such things personally, and without Acheron here to call her off she's deadlier than a nuclear bomb." He looked over at the small demon with new respect. "Really?"

Astrid nodded. "Her race once held dominion over the entire earth. Even the Olympian gods were terrified of the Charontes, and only the Atlanteans were ever able to defeat and harness them."

Simi looked up and gave him a wide, toothy grin that revealed her fangs evilly.

She licked her lips as if savoring some tasty morsel. "I would like to barbecue those Olympian gods. They are very tasty. One day, I'm going to eat that redheaded goddess, too."

"She doesn't like Artemis," Astrid explained.

So he gathered.

"The Simi hates her, butakri says, 'No, Simi, you can't kill Artemis. Behave, Simi, don't shoot fire at her, don't make her bald, Simi.' No, no, no. It's all I hear."

She glared at Zarek meaningfully. "I don't like that word. 'No.' It even sounds evil. The Simi tends to barbecue anyone dumb enough to say it to her. But notakri .

He's allowed to say no to me; I just don't like it when he does."

Zarek frowned as he watched Simi hop along from box to box like a butterfly.

She exclaimed giddily when she found his store of gold and jewels that Artemis paid him with every month.

"Look!" Simi said, scooping up a handful of diamonds. "You got sparklies likeakri . He gives all of his to me." She held an emerald necklace up to her throat.

"He say I look beautiful in sparklies, 'specially them red ones that match my eyes.

Here, Astrid," she said, bringing another necklace over to them and fastening it around Astrid's neck.

"I know you can't see it, Astrid, but it is very lovely, like you. You need to wear that and then you have sparklies, too." She looked up at Astrid's head. "But still no hornays. We need to fix you up with hornays one day so you can be a demon, too.

It's fun being a demon-except when people try to exercise you... Wait, that's not the right word. I forget, but you know what I mean."

There was something strangely charismatic about her, but she didn't seem to be quite right... in more ways than one.

"Is she okay?" he asked Astrid. "I mean, no offense, she sounds more mental than I do."

Astrid laughed. "You have to remember that Acheron, shall we say, indulges hera lot and Simi's not fully grown."

"Yes I am," Simi said in a tone that reminded him of a five-year-old child. She had a peculiar singsongy accent unlike anything he'd ever heard before.

"The Simi has needs," she continued idly. "Lots of needs. I needakri's plastic card, for one thing. It very nice. People give me lots of stuff when I hand it to them.

Ooo, I really like the new plastic card he gave me with my own name on it. It blue and all sparkly and it says Simi Parthenopaeus."

She looked up like a giddy child. "Doesn't that have a nice ring to it? I have to say it again. Simi Parthenopaeus. I like that a lot. It even has my picture in the corner and I am a very attractive demon if I do say so myself.Akri says it, too.

'Simi, you are beautiful.' I like it when he tells me that."

"Does she always ramble on like this?" Zarek whispered under his breath in Astrid's ear.

She nodded. "Trust me, it's wise to let her ramble, too. She gets rather upset if you tell her to be quiet. She once ate a lesser god who did that."

Simi cocked her head as if another thought came to her addled mind. "And I particularly like men all of a sudden." She looked over at Zarek who involuntarily cringed. "But not that one. He's too dark. I like them blue-eyed people 'cause they remind me of my card. People like that Calvin Klein model Travis Fimmel who was on this big billboard inNew York the last timeakri took me there. He mighty fine and makes me want to do things to him other than flame-broil him. He makes me all warm and tingly."

"Okay, Simi. Warm and tingly. I think we need to switch topics," Astrid said.

Zarek wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or insulted by her comments about him. But he definitely agreed a change in topic would be nice.

Astrid turned to where she thought Simi might be, but Simi had already moved.

Again.