Dream chaser.doc by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

Atlantean gods who made it weren't real
    big on sharing its weaknesses with us. If you know
    someone tied to their dead pantheon, I suggest you
    try them." She turned toward Julian and her
    features softened. "I'll see you later, sweetie."
    She vanished. "Aphrodite!" Xypher shouted at
    the ceiling. "Get your skinny ass back here!"
    Simone scoffed. "I can't imagine why she
    wouldn't respond to that." She narrowed her gaze
    at Xypher. "Where did you go to charm school,
    anyway?
    Prison?"
    He glared at her as if he could imagine his
    hands wrapped around her throat. That was okay by
    her since she currently held the same fantasy
    about choking him . . . preferably with one of the
    bracelets they were joined by.
    Julian let out a tired breath as he put his
    hands on his hips. "I hope you're friends with
    Acheron. He's the only Atlantean I know of."
    46
    Xypher didn't looked overly thrilled by that
    prospect. "Give me his number."
    Simone arched a brow at Xypher. "Can't you just
    call him out of thin air?"
    Julian laughed. "Good luck. He's the only
    person I know who can be crankier than my mother
    or Xypher. You don't summon Acheron. You ask
    nicely."
    "I'm so sick of the gods playing with my life,"
    Xypher snarled as Julian handed him a piece of
    paper with a number scribbled on it.
    A glimmer of something flashed in Julian's
    eyes. "I know the feeling. But sometimes salvation
    from them can come at the most unlikely time." His
    gaze went to Simone. "And from the most unlikely
    people."
    Xypher rolled his eyes. "Don't sell me your
    bullshit. I'm on a countdown here. In twenty-two
    days I go back to hell. My only goal is to make
    sure that this time, I don't go alone."
    "Then I wish you luck." Julian showed them to
    the door. "If you need anything else, let me
    know."
    Simone thanked him before she led the way
    across the porch. She handed Xypher her cell phone
    as they walked to the car—she was actually
    surprised he didn't poof them back into it.
    Then again, he was distracted. He didn't say a
    word. He merely took the phone and dialed the
    number with an irritable expression that was
    somehow inviting.
    "Of course you're not answering . . ." he said
    in a guttural tone. Then in a more normal voice he
    said, "Acheron, it's Xypher. When you check
    messages, I need you to call me back at this
    number. I have a situation and I need you to
    contact me ASAP." He closed the phone and returned
    it to her.
    47
    Simone put it in her back pocket. "You think
    he'll be in touch?"
    "Don't worry about it."
    She pulled him to a stop on the walkway. "Do
    you have to be so surly over every question?"
    "Do you have to be so damned perky? Was it too
    much to ask that I get chained to a depressed mute
    or one of those chicks who dresses in black and
    writes bad poetry?"
    She'd never been more offended in her life.
    "What is wrong with you?" His eyes flared in the
    darkness. "Be grateful, human, that you could
    never understand."
    Understand what? That he was an asshole? There
    was no excuse in that.
    "You know, you're not the only one with
    problems in this equation. I happen to have a life
    and a job. The last thing I need is to be pulling
    around a three-hundred-pound gorilla with a chip
    on his shoulder so big it's a wonder he's not
    hunchbacked from it."
    "I don't weigh three hundred pounds."
    She arched a single brow at his retort. "No
    denying the gorilla part?"
    "No."
    That took a lot of the bravado out of her. It
    was hard to get the upper hand when he seemed so
    content to be a monster.
    "Um, Simone?" There was a note of fear in
    Jesse's voice.
    She turned toward him. "Yes?"
    "What is that?"
    She looked to see what he was pointing at. Tall
    and lithe, it had eyes that were glowing red in
    the darkness.
    And it was headed straight for them.
    48
    THREE
    Xypher jerked her toward Jesse. "Both of you
    stay back."
    Simone wasn't about to argue given the size of
    the creature headed toward them and the fact that
    his skin appeared to be boiling