Pierce was thrown back against the wall by the strength of Aiden’s yell. He slid to the floor and stared up at her, wondering if this was part of the prophecy. Her eyes were an eerie shade of red, slightly darker than blood, and seemed to vibrate with a fiendish quality. He had never, in all his time with her, been afraid, or even nervous. Now, he was.
Aiden stared at Pierce as he looked up at her from the floor. She could see the fear in his eyes, and smiled coldly. Power spiraled around her, weaving itself in and out of her body as it caressed her very soul. Never before had she felt such ultimate strength, and she knew that she probably never would again. It took too much heartache to reach this point, and it was something she would refuse to consider in the future.
But, for now, she would use it, abuse it, and then abandon it after wringing every little bit of satisfaction out of it that she needed. For her, this was her own little version of Artemis’ revenge deal. Sweet part was that she didn’t have to die to experience it.
Walking over, she crouched in front of the man she thought she would spend forever with. Funny… forever seemed like a lot longer than the ten seconds she figured Pierce had to live.
Reaching out to her, Pierce gasped in pain as his hand was easily swatted aside. His eyes grew wide as invisible hands pulled him to his feet and slammed him against the wall again.
“Nearly sunrise,” Aiden said, her voice unnaturally deep and conversational. “Wonder what happens when the sacrifice kills the birthday eagle instead?”
Pierce’s eyes grew wide as pain seemed to come at him from every angle, and he screamed out. It felt like he was being torn apart. The last thing he saw was Aiden as she opened the fingers of her right hand, then quickly closed it into a fist.
With a sigh of disgust, Aiden removed her magick touch from Pierce and let his lifeless body drop to the floor. With every bone broken, he crumpled like the trash that he was.
“That’s for those you killed,” she whispered harshly. She stared at him, getting angry at the betrayal he dealt her, along with the years of shabby treatment. Divorce didn’t exist in their world, and in the avian community, neither did separation, so she had been stuck with him for those long years. The anger started to gain, and she discovered that she couldn’t shove it down inside where she usually kept it.
Throwing her head back, she yelled, the sound literally tearing the roof off the place.
~~~~~~~~~~
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Vane appeared back outside the cabin. “Whoa…” Vane stared at the others in shock at both his appearance, and the echo from Aiden’s screech that still reverberated through the mountains. The Daimons that had been blocking their way to the cabin disintegrated with agonizing screams as soon as sunlight hit them.
The curse obviously still in place, and Aiden still inside with her mate, Vane started back to the building, confused when he couldn’t teleport there. He looked at the others, and noticed the concerned looks on their faces, too. Ash mumbled a few words, trying to work his powerful magick to override what was keeping them out of the cabin, and swore when nothing seemed to work.
Going for the old-fashioned option, Vane started to run for the front door, jumping back in shock as the cabin crumbled in front of him. ‘No, no no, no, no,” he muttered and hurried towards the wreckage.
Ash appeared beside him, pulling large pieces out of the way with both magick and strength. He could easily make it all vanish, but he didn’t know where she was, and moving the wrong piece could do more harm than good. He cursed to himself as he dug, and knew exactly what had happened. Aiden’s powers, which she had never fully realized or even attempted to discover, had erupted from her, the surge destroying the building and possibly the woman with it.
‘Is she suppose to die?’ ‘Not by her mate’s hands’. The conversation echoed in his brain, and he hoped this wasn’t what Savitar had been referring to.
Vane followed Aiden’s scent, digging until his hand touched something warm and wet. “Here,” he said, as the others gathered around to dig and support.
As soon as her head was clear, Ash immediately crouched down and placed a hand on either side to keep her neck steady while the others worked, and to give her a little of his strength to help her. He watched as the rest of the ruined cabin came off, sending her a little more strength with every wound he saw.
Aiden’s body seemed so still as they dug her out, blood coating her front from a wound that seemed to start at her shoulder and go straight past her waist. Small cuts covered her body, and it looked like one, if not both, arms were broken. Her hair was caked in blood, and Ash was more than amazed that she was still alive.
Once the rubble was moved off her, Fury took Ash’s spot holding her head still as the immortal crawled to her side, and ran his hands over her to heal the more serious wounds. Ash then picked Aiden up from the ground, cradled her in his arms and immediately vanished.
~~~~~~~~
Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, sat straight on her throne in her palace on Mount Olympus. Acheron was worried about something; that much she could feel through her bond with him. It didn’t feel like the usual concern he always had for one of his Dark-Hunters, or even the concern he seemed to have for that annoying demon he had as a companion.
No, this was something more…personal. Although she couldn’t think of anything more personal to ‘her’ Acheron than the annoying demon, Simi. The man would die for ‘it’, so this had to be something different.
Artemis hated different. If she had her way, Acheron would spend eternity in her bed, catering to her every sexual whim. She could have her way, but then Acheron would fight it, then she would throw a tantrum, and it was just easier to play the same cat and mouse game that they had for the past nine thousand plus years.
Getting back to figuring out the feeling she was getting, and growing concerned herself over anything that could cause worries to Acheron, she decided to find out exactly what was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~
Appearing in her condo, Ash placed Aiden on her bed, and sat on his heels to wait. He could heal a lot of injuries, and bring people back to life, but he wasn’t sure what to do now. He was unable to see the futures of those closest to him and didn’t know if she was suppose to die because of her power surge or not.
Helplessness started to settle in, and brought other thoughts with it. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time, but the emotions threatened to come back like they were yesterday. He clenched his eyes shut, burying the pain back where it belonged. He wouldn’t do his friend any good if he couldn’t concentrate.
“Is she going to die?” he whispered.
“Do you want her to?” the voice came from behind him.
“No.”
Artemis nodded. “What will you give me in exchange?”
A kick in the head? “What do you want?” he whispered, too tired to fight her.
“A week.”
If she was willing to deal, then there was a chance that Aiden wasn’t supposed to die. Artemis would do a lot of things out of spite and selfishness, but messing with a timeline wasn’t one of them. “Done.”
She blinked, surprised that he had given in so easily. She sighed in annoyance, thinking she should have asked for more than a week of his undivided attention. Artemis watched, jealous, as Ash ran a hand over Aiden’s forehead.
“You care for her?”
Ash could sense dangerous ground he was about to tread on. If he worded this one wrong, Artemis could destroy Aiden without a second thought…regardless of what would happen. She wouldn’t screw the universe out of spite or selfishness, but jealousy was a whole other game to the goddess.
“She’s a great friend.”
“Is that all?”
“It’s all both her and I want.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “I give my word.” One thing that Ash could not do was lie, and once his word was given, he had to stick to it. Curses and promises or even the casual comment had to be worded carefully lest he accidentally doom someone to an untimely fate.
Ash turned back asAiden stirred and smiled when she opened her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
Aiden’s eyes went from his face to the figure behind him. “Did I die?”
“No.”
“Then why is Artemis here?”
“I was concerned for your well-being,” Artemis said sweetly. “You are such a great friend to my Acheron.”
Aiden didn’t miss the warning in ‘my Acheron’, and she didn’t miss the anger that flashed through Ash’s silver eyes at the comment. “I am humbled and honored that you would help me,” she said respectfully.
“Anything for my Acheron,” Artemis said. “ I expect you tomorrow,” she said to Ash, then vanished.
“Is she gone?” Aiden asked in a whisper.
Ash closed his eyes and laid his forehead on the bed for a moment. “I hope so.”
“What a bitch.”
His eyes popped open and he smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~
After a few hours sleep, Aiden opened her eyes to find that she wasn't alone. She could hear a voice talking in hushed whispers, and rolled over as Ash closed his cell phone and put it back into the side pocket of his black backpack. 1 He glanced up at her, started to say something, then stopped. “Vane Kattalakis wanted to see if you were all right,” he said instead, referring to the call he had just finished. “And to see if you’ve given up hunting wolves.”
Aiden gave him a tired smile. “Tell him thanks, and that I’ll have to think about it.” She slowly sat up and leaned against the headboard. “You don’t have to stay.”
“I just want to make sure you’re going to be okay.”
“Ash…” She paused with a sigh. “I know you mean well, but…”
He gave her a smile, one of his real ones, which showed a hint of fangs. “Say no more.” He reached down and grabbed his backpack, shifting his weight so he could sit on the corner of the bed by her. “Trust me, I know the feeling of needing to be alone at times.”
Aiden leaned towards him, putting her arms around his shoulders and hugging briefly. Ash clenched his eyes shut as he returned the hug, then he pulled back and stood.
“Ash?”
“Aiden?”
She rolled her eyes. “When you’re done visiting Artemis, drop in for a coffee?”
“You got it.”
“And make sure you’re wearing non-leather white.”
Ash grimaced. “I was hoping you’d forgotten about that.” He sighed, not really wanting to spend a minute, let alone a whole week with Artemis. “See you in a week.”
Although he hadn’t told her, she knew that he had made some deal with Artemis, and she knew that it involved her. The ‘heifer goddess’, as Simi so eloquently called her, had a bad way of taking Ash’s giving nature, and using to her full advantage. “See ya.”
Aiden bit her lip as he vanished; amazed that she had held back the tears as long as she had. Finally giving herself permission to react to the recent events, she wiped the tears away as the fell, and willed the song Possession by Sarah McLaughlin on to her bedroom stereo as she settled back into her pillows and stared at the ceiling.
~~~~~~~~
Savitar stood in the corner of the darkened room, listening to the music as it filtered lowly from the speakers just to the left of him. The selection was decidedly melancholy and definitely heartbreaking, not quite the tunes he would have listened to had he been in the doldrums.
Himself, he favored the heavier sounding music, altered with some good ol’ beach music. Although, he couldn’t recall ever actually being in a depressed mood. Annoyed at something, sure… angry, hell yeah, but depressed? Closest he ever came to that emotion was mild confusion, which never lasted longer than it took to think through the reason and find the answer.
Shifting his gaze from the stereo back to the bed, he tried to figure out just why he was standing here, in the shadows like some pervert, watching Aiden as she slept. He knew he wanted to talk to her, and had nearly convinced himself that it was to make sure that she didn’t know that he had used her. If she knew, he would simply remove that knowledge from her brain.
He had always known that she had perfect recall, and if she seriously thought over the events, and all that either he or Ash had said to her in the days leading up to it, it would more than likely tip her off to it being a lie.
Not a lie he told himself, a necessary omission of certain facts.
Slowly walking toward the bed, he stopped a few feet from it and looked down as she slept on her back, one arm over her head. He could see the tip of a tattoo peeking out from under the neckline of her shirt, and used his magick to gently pull it back slightly to get a better view. One thing he could appreciate was good artwork, and her eagle in flight certainly qualified.
“That’s the second time you’ve looked down my top,” a sleepy voice said.
Not the slightest bit embarrassed, Savitar gave her a slight shrug. “True.”
Aiden cracked her eyes opened and regarded him. “Don’t tell me,” she said as sarcastically as she could as she tried to focus tired eyes on him. “They need a sacrifice somewhere and you naturally thought of me.”
“No.”
“Stryker found out you helped me, and you’re here to either make sure I don’t tell anyone, or to kill me.”
Savitar stared at the matter of fact way she said it. That had been one option, but it was one that he dismissed early on in the day. “Not exactly.”
Aiden sat up and leaned against her headboard, running her fingers through her hair. “Then what brings the all-powerful Savitar to my bedroom in the middle of the night?” She arched an eyebrow at him, realizing that he was basically half dressed in his beach pants, and Hawaiian print shirt that was left unbuttoned.
“I wanted to make sure that you were safe, and had no lasting effects from your surging powers,” he said smoothly.
“You practiced that line all day, didn’t you?”
“Most of the day,” he admitted, surprised that he was actually enjoying this bantering. He quickly scanned through her mind, checking certain areas to make sure that she hadn’t pieced it all together yet. Satisfied that she hadn’t heard enough to make the connection, he smiled slightly. “Are you all right?”
She shrugged. “Guess so. It’s going to take some time to get over this, and…” she paused and patted the corner of the bed. “Sit down, okay? It’s hurting my neck having to look up at you.”
Savitar eyed the bed, and slowly lowered himself so he was sitting on the corner of it. He looked her over, telling himself that he should get the hell up and get the hell out of there. He liked her too much to even consider possibly thinking about her in any way beyond someone to talk to. It wasn’t that he didn’t like sex… hell, he liked it nearly as much as surfing… it was just that he preferred to keep it unattached, and with someone he had no possibility of creating any sort of feeling for beyond the need to satisfy any carnal craving he may have.
Aiden regarded him as he sat beside her. In the span of a few hours, she’d had two of the sexiest men in the cosmos sitting on her bed. One had been a century old friend who she would do anything for, while the other was an enigmatic loner who she suddenly discovered she would like to get to know a little better.
Savitar raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know that he heard that thought. Pulling his legs up on to the mattress, he leaned back on the headboard beside her. He didn’t touch her, yet their bodies were close enough that he could feel her warmth.
“Thank you for helping me when I was in the cage,” she said in a quiet voice, commanding herself not to start crying again. “I appreciate it.”
He smiled slightly, ignoring that pesky guilt feeling that tried to tell him that it was his fault she had been brought in to this in the first place. “You weren’t suppose to die,” he said slowly as he laid a hand on top of hers, surprised at the softness.
Aiden could barely breath at the sensation of his hand. The power from him seemed to emanate from every pore, and was almost terrifying in a highly exciting kind of way. She turned her hand over and his fingers easily laced with hers.
~~~~~~~~~~
Stryker walked past the Were-Hunters as they stood in the main hall in Kalosis. These eight were all that were left from the group of avians that had, along with Pierce, killed their families and followed him in to the mountains.
Usually, a Were-Hunter in Kalosis would swear allegiance to him, and be allowed to live. Usually.
Not this time. Stryker was not too fond of failure, especially when it directly concerned him. Their idiot eagle leader’s body had been found crushed in the ruins of the cabin, with witnesses claiming that his mate had killed him. Stryker could appreciate that, although it annoyed him that someone else had beat him to the killing.
He stopped in front of one of the eagles and glared at him. “Why, after you… proved your loyalty, was the Omegrion not called?”
“I…I don’t know,” came the reply. “Most times internal squabbles don’t rate interference.”
Stryker nodded once. That little fact had been bugging him for a while, even more so since Savitar threatened him. It was almost like the god knew that by calling the Omegrion, that it would stop the sacrifice. And yet, he had allowed Acheron to stage a rescue to stop the very same thing. Savitar had been up to something, and he had to find out what that was.
He turned to his Spathi warriors. “Kill them all, except for this one.” He pointed to the eagle he had spoken to, ignoring the protest yells that came from the other eagles. He watched, impressed, as they fought back, but they soon succumbed to the stronger Spathi.
The lone surviving eagle looked a little green as he stared at Stryker.
“As for you,” Stryker said. “I want you to find out just why the Omegrion wasn’t called.”
“Y-y-yes, my lord.”
“Then… in a few months, once everyone relaxes a bit, I want you to kill Aiden Falconidae.” Stryker smiled coldly. “Purely as a matter of principle, of course.”
The end.
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Comments
1 - 11 of 11
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OMG! LOL Savitar fell in love wth her XD I like that ending XD
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Very good and entertaining!
I really enjoy all of your DH-based fiction; they make me feel like I'm reading another of Sherri's novels! It's so refreshing to (finally) find good quality DH fics, I was getting rather tired of reading bad grammar-, netspeak- and ridiculous plot-laden mock offs. I kid you not. Just check out fanfiction(dot)net (under "Books" then category "Dreamhunter") to see what I mean, but be prepared to weep at the abuse of the English language.
Anyway, one wee little nitpick, if I may: I'm something of a name etymologist, so I just thought I'd let you know that "Aiden" is not a girl's name, even if you had spelled it "Aidyn" (which is not a legitimate spelling, FYI, and would unfortunately get you laughed at by any native Irishman/woman). It's like naming a girl "Jacob" - even if you gave it a made-up spelling, such as "Jacyb" or "Jacib" it would still, in its native language, be a boy's name. Sorry. It kind of sucks, because I like the name too, but giving "Aiden" or any other actual boy's name to a girl - even if you change the spelling - does not and never will make it a girl's name.
However, the Irish name "Aideen" IS a valid girl's name and looks a bit like Aidan/Aiden, even if the meaning's different.
(Apologies for my "little" nitpick turning into a novel. Wrong gender names on children is one of the few things that I am very passionate about. I'm very active on "http://bigbadbabynames.net/forum/index.php", and that's where I learned all my tricks.)
beginning: 4, language: 4, plot: 4, ending: 5, dialog: 4, characters: 5.
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No prob the name... funny though, my step-sister had a son a couple months ago, and named him Aidan.
On the list for the 'novel' I have "Aiden means little fire. The female version is Aidyn, but, as in the Were-Hunter realm, nothing is as it seems. (In other words, I like Aiden for a girl better
) " Buuuut... in the story I'm writing now, I explain why she was given "Aiden" instead of the female spelling for the name. Well, I *will* be explaining it... just have to get to that chapter 
And thank you for the compliments! I'm on fanfiction.net, but not with my DH/WH stories. I find the site too hard to navigate through when posting. I've read some of the stories on there, and one was interesting... confusing at times, and held a bit of a 'oh, come on now! Have you ever *read* Kenyon?!' feel to it.
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Brilliant! Can't wait to read more about Aiden and (maybe, I hope?) her relationship with Savitar.
I know what you mean re: fanfiction.net. There are gems amongst the refuse, yes, but one has to wade in pretty deep to find them. I prefer going to specific fandom-centric sites, such as OWL for Harry Potter and Open Scrolls for Lord of the Rings, etc. There are bunk stories there, as well, but the amount of them is much lower than on a ginormous fandom-wide site like FF.net. I think FF.net succumbed to the "chain store" phenomenon as Barnes and Noble did - they tried to please too many people with too many fandoms and grew too big for their britches. 
Anyway, I'll stop nattering on now.
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Very well done If you ever publish this please let me know, I want the first copy before you become rich
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I would so LOVE to be able to publish the Dark-Hunter stories that I've done. Unfortunately, it might step on the toes of Sherrilyn Kenyon, then her lawyers would step on MY toes, and that would hurt.
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aww competition is good tho! lol
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oh man this story leaves me with some good memories. and i blame you for helping me procrastinate on my own writing. bad barbra!
but yet again i have finished another one of your stories and to tell the truth i liked this one even better!
and really when ash gave his word they were nothing more... it just made me so sad... but the fact that aiden is savitars weak spot i just means its okay that they are closer. he better treat her good!
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'Funny… forever seemed like a lot longer than the ten seconds she figured Pierce had to live.' I think that line sums up very nicely the growth that you've brought Aiden through since the first chapter.
Calling Artemis a bitch...
Savitar and Aiden... awwwwwwwwwwwww... too cut and sweet and not overly sappy.
sigh... it's over.... good thing I printed all of these out before and got a refresher while reading today...this is an excellent story, and I can't wait to dive into the next story...which I will do on the weekend. Hopefully.
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Wonderful imagery in the first paragraph- that description of her eyes? I loved it.
First typo. Seventh paragraph in the first section. Here's the sentence:
"Pierce's eyes grew wide as pain seemed to come at his from every angle..."
"his" should be "him"
And I guess it's just a matter of wording style, but in the sentence right after the one I just pointed out where "The last thing he saw was Aiden as she opened her fingers of her right hand..." Usually "her fingers" would be "the fingers"
It's not wrong- just kind of awkward. To me. Maybe I'm just weird that way...
Second typo- The section where Artemis, Ash, and Aiden are all in the same room. Here's the sentence:
"Ash turned back as the Aiden..."
"the" should probably be deleted.
Third typo: The section when Savitar is watching Aiden sleep. Here's the sentence:
"He had always know that..."
"know" should be "known"
Fourth typo. Same section as the last one. About the nineteenth paragraph (give or take a few.) Here's the sentence:
"One had been a century old friend who she would do any for..."
"any" should be "anything"
Awww. That's too sweet. Savitar and Aiden holding hands.
You make it sound like there's going to be a sequel... is there? Or is that just how you end all your mini-novels? If there is a sequel, please tell me! This was a great ending (I think this was the first time I actually finished a series on this site.) I'm going to miss this story.
MoonNight
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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Thanks for spotting those things! I musta read this thing five times this morning, looking for errors, and fixing them, yet I *Still* missed some.
Thank you for reading the whole thing. Although this had some of the same characters to 'Interlude', it has a different feeling to it, and something that could be continued.
I'm going to miss this story too. I like to leave little cliffhangers at times, but I might just make a sequel.
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