He stood there motionless as her replay of the events that night filled in the sketchy details of his memory.

He was stunned by what he'd seen. What he'd learned.

"How did you show me all that?" he asked her.

The demon shrugged.

This was getting annoying. Damn Ash for giving her the order not to speak to him. "Astrid, please ask her my question."

Astrid did.

Simi looked at him as if he were dense. "Nothing ever goes away in the human mind. It just get misplaced, silly." She said to Astrid as she walked her fingers through his hair, "I just pulled the pieces out so I could see them and then he saw them too when he looked at me. Easy."

Numb from all he'd discovered, Zarek looked over to Astrid who was waiting patiently for them to finish.

"What is Acheron?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Astrid said.

Zarek stepped away, his mind whirling as he tried to rememberNew Orleans .

"He did something with my mind again inNew Orleans , didn't he?"

Simi whistled and looked around the room. "Simi, did he?" Astrid asked.

"Akrionly does it when he has to. There were some things inNew Orleans that were bad. Things them Dark-Hunters and Olympian gods don't need to know about."

Zarek clenched his teeth. "Such as?"

Astrid repeated his question.

"I said none of you don't need to know."

He wanted to choke the demon, but after what he had just seen Ash do, he thought better of it. "Why does Acheron hide?"

Simi hissed at him and in her anger forgot Ash's order. "Akrihides from no one.

He don't need to. Anyone hurt myakri , I eat them."

Zarek ignored her. "Is he human?" he asked Astrid.

Astrid let out a long breath. "I honestly don't know. Whenever I have mentioned his name to my sisters, they become evasive and quiet. He alone seems to frighten them. I've always wondered why, but no one onOlympus will talk about him much.

It's really very odd."

Her expression speculative, Astrid turned in the demon's direction. "Simi, tell me about Acheron."

"He's great and wonderful, and he treat me like a goddess. Goddess Simi. That's me."

Astrid winced a bit at that. "I mean, tell me about his birth."

"Oh, that. Acheron was born in 9548 b.c. on the Greek isle of Didymos."

"Who was he born to?"

"King Icarion and Queen Aara of Didymos and Lygos."

Zarek could tell that the answer surprised Astrid, but it didn't surprise him. He'd always suspected Ash was nobility. There was something inherently regal about him. Something that said, "I am the master, you the servant. Bow down and kiss my ass." It was why Zarek had never cared for him.

"Ash isn't a demigod?" Astrid asked.

Simi laughed uproariously at her question. "Akria demigod? Puh-lease."

Zarek frowned as he realized what Simi had revealed. "Wait, I thought Ash was Atlantean?"

Astrid shook her head. "From the extremely rare rumors I've heard, they say he was born inGreece but raised in Atlantis. Rumor has it he's one of Zeus's sons. But like I said, most people are unwilling to say much of anything about him."

Simi laughed again. "Does he look like old thunder-butt? No. Son of Zeus? How many insults can myakri have?"

Zarek considered that for a minute, and then something else occurred to him.

"Can Simi communicate with Ash right now?"

"Yes."

"Then tell him he'd better get his ass here and protect you."

Simi's eyes glared. Her wings flapped.

"Simi," Astrid said quickly. "He didn't mean it like that. Can Ash come here?"

She settled down a bit. "No. He promised the evil heifer goddess that he would stay onOlympus for two weeks. He can't break his oath."

"Then how do I kill Thanatos? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Ash is the only one of us capable of just looking at him and making him go 'poof.'"

"Simi can kill him."

"No, I can't.Akri said so."

"Then how do we stop him?" Astrid asked.

Simi shrugged. "Ifakri would let me, I could barbecue him, but since you don't breathe fire it might be kind of hard for you to do that."

"I have a flamethrower."

Astrid snapped her head toward him. "You have a what?" she asked incredulously.

It was his turn to shrug. "It pays to be prepared."

"Well," Simi said. "Those are nice for toasting marshmallows, but they'll only make Thanatos mad. Regular fire won't hurt him. I have this really neat gelatinous goo that comes out with my fire and it squirts my victims so that it don't come off.

Wanna see it?"

"No!" they said in unison.

Simi stiffened. "No? I don't like that word."

"We love you, Simi," Astrid said quickly. "We're just scared of your goo."

Astrid hit Zarek in the stomach as he started to correct her about loving Simi.

"Oh," Simi said, "that I understand. Okay, you can live." After ascertaining that there really was no food there, Simi sat cross-legged on the floor. She hummed to herself as she twirled a strand of hair around her little finger. "So, you got QVC?"

"Afraid not, sweetie," Astrid said.

"You got Soap Net?"

Zarek shook his head.

"You got any TV?" Simi continued in a voice that sounded like a petulant toddler's.

"Sorry."

"Are you kidding?" Simi rested her chin in her hand and looked up at him. "You boring people. A demon needs her cable.Akri done tricked me. He didn't tell me I'd have to go without cable. Don't you even have one of those itty-bitty TVs that has batteries?"

Yeah and on that note, he pulled Astrid away from Simi.

"It won't work," she whispered.

"What?"

"Pulling me away so she won't hear. She hears everything."

He stopped. "Well, then, she's in for an earful."

Zarek stood there looking at Astrid. Memorizing every line of her face, every curve of her body.

He didn't know what to do to protect her. Jess couldn't come get her in the daylight and he didn't trust the Squires to get her to safety, either.

Not to mention the idea of letting them know of his hideout while they were out to kill him themselves didn't seem like a brilliant move either.

There was no one to trust and the only way he knew to protect Astrid was to call Thanatos out and finish this.

Tonight, he would find Thanatos and one of them would die.

It was something he didn't want to tell Astrid. She wouldn't let him go if she knew.

"Look, we'll need food tonight. I'm going to leave you and Simi here where it's safe and I'll go scout supplies."

"Why not send Simi? Nothing can hurt her." Zarek slid his glance over to the demon, who was playing This Little Piggy on her bare toes.

"Yes, but I don't think she should be let out on her own, do you?"

Astrid hesitated. "You may be right."

Zarek sank to the floor and pulled her down with him. He checked his watch to see that it was less than two hours to sundown.

Less than two hours to be with the woman who had come to mean so much to him.

Lying down, he closed his eyes as she laid her head on his chest and traced circles over him.

"Tell me something good, princess. Tell me what you'll do when this is over."

Astrid stopped moving her hand in circles as she thought about that. What she wanted was to stay with Zarek. But how?

Artemis would have to let him go and she knew her cousin well enough to know Artemis didn't share her toys.

"I'll miss you, Prince Charming."

She felt him tense at that. "Will you really?"

"Yes, I will. What about you?"

"I'll survive. I always do."

Yes, he did. In ways that astounded her.

Astrid traced the line of his jaw. "You should be resting."

"I don't want to rest. I just want to feel you for a little while."

She smiled at that.

"Are you two going to kiss?" Simi asked. "Maybe I should go upstairs or something."

Astrid laughed. "It's okay, Simi. We won't kiss in front of you."

"Does she sleep?" Zarek asked.

"I don't know. Simi, do you sleep?"

"Yes, I do. I have a lovely bed, too. It got dragons carved on it and this big old ivory-colored canopy over the top.Akri had it special made for me long time ago and it has a windup dancer on the headboard. When I was a baby demon,akri would wind it up after he tucked me into bed and I used to watch it until I went to sleep. Sometimes he would sing lullabies to me, too.Akri a good daddy. He takes good care of his Simi."

"What about you, princess?" Zarek asked. "Did your mother tuck you in as a child?"

"Every night, unless she was judging someone and then my sister Atty would."

Astrid didn't ask Zarek who tucked him in. She already knew the answer to that.