Free Sherrilyn Kenyon - The Beginning by Unknown Page A

they exploded.”
    She flipped off the limb and came to stand by his side. “Where we go now, akri? Will you take Simi somewhere cold again? I liked that last place we went. The mountain was very nice.”
    Acheron?
    He paused as he felt Artemis summoning him. He let out another long-suffering sigh.
    For two thousand years, he had been ignoring her.
    Still she insisted on calling out to him.
    There was a time when she had sought him out in the “flesh,” but he had blocked her from that ability.
    Her mental telepathy to him was the only contact he couldn’t sever entirely.
    “Come, Simi,” he said, starting his journey that would take him back to Therakos. The Daimons there had set up a colony where they were preying on the poor Greeks who lived in a small village.
    Acheron. I need your help. My new Dark-Hunters need a trainer.
    He froze at Artemis’s words.
    New Dark-Hunters?
    What the hell was that?
    “What have you done, Artemis?” his voice whispered along the wind, traveling to Olympus where she waited in her temple.
    So, you do speak to me. He heard the relief in her tone. I had begun to wonder if I would ever hear the sound of your voice again.
    Acheron curled his lip. He didn’t have time for this.
    Acheron?
    He ignored her.
    She didn’t take the hint.
    The Daimon menace is spreading faster than you can contain it. You needed help and so I have given it to you.
    He scoffed at the idea of her help. The Greek goddess had never done anything for anyone other than herself since the dawn of time.
    “Leave me alone, Artemis. We are through, you and I. I have a job to do and no time to be bothered with you.”
    Fine then. I shall send them out to face the Daimons unprepared. If they die, well, who cares for a human? I can just make more of them to fight.
    It was a trick.
    And yet in his gut, Acheron knew it wasn’t. She probably had made more Dark-Hunters and if she truly had, then she would definitely do it again.
    Especially if it would make him feel guilty.
    Damn her. He would have to go to her temple again.
    Personally, he would rather be disemboweled.
    He looked to his demon. “Simi, I need to see Artemis now. You return to Katoteros and stay out of trouble until I summon you.”
    The demon grimaced. “The Simi don’t like Artemis, akri. I wish you’d let the Simi kill that goddess. The Simi want to pull out her long, red hair.”
    He knew the feeling.
    Simi had only met Artemis once, back when Acheron had been mortal.
    The event had been disastrous.
    “I know, Simi, which is why I want you to stay at Katoteros.” He stepped away, then turned back to face her. “And for Archon’s sake, please don’t eat anything until I get back. Especially not a human.”
    “But—”
    “No, Simi. No food.”
    “No, Simi. No food,” she mocked. “The Simi don’t like this, akri. Katoteros is boring. There’s nothing fun there. Only old dead people who want to come back here. Bleh!”
    “Simi…” he said, his voice thick with warning.
    “I hear and obey, akri. The Simi just never said she would do so quietly.”
    He shook his head at the incorrigible demon, then willed himself from the earth to Artemis’s temple on Olympus.
    Acheron stood on top of the golden bridge that traversed a winding river. The sound of the water echoed off the sheer sides of the mountain that rose up all around him.
    In the last two thousand years, nothing had changed.
    The entire area at the top of the mountain was made up of sparkling bridges and walkways, covered by a rainbow fog, that led to the various temples of the gods.
    The halls of Mount Olympus were opulent and massive. Perfect homes for the egos of the gods who lived inside them.
    Artemis’s was made of gold, with a domed top and white, marble columns. The view of the sky and world below was breathtaking from her throne room.
    Or so he had thought in his youth.
    But that was before time and experience had jaundiced his appreciation. To him there was nothing