DEVIL MAY CRY.doc by Unknown Page A

kill me. I think in this I'm the
    one who's most likely to get screwed."
    He nodded in agreement before he dropped his hand from her face. "All right then. I need to get
    out of here. Back to my place so that we can prepare."
    "Okay."
    In a blink of an eye, they were back in his penthouse in Las Vegas. He looked around for Artemis,
    but she, along with her Dolophonos, was gone. Kish was still standing by the sofa as a life-sized statue.
    Kat arched a brow as she saw Kish's frozen form for the first time. "Friend or foe?"
    "Depends on the time and day." He snapped his fingers and Kish returned to his normal self.
    Shaking his head, Kish frowned. "Did you freeze me again?"
    Sin shrugged. "You were annoying me."
    "I hate it when you do that." Kish did a double take as he realized Kat was standing beside him,
    watching him with a curious glimmer in her eye. Confusion marked his brow before he turned back to
    Sin. "You and Artemis made up? Damn, how long was I frozen?"
    Kat laughed. "I'm not Artemis."
    "I made a mistake," Sin said, not wanting to go into it.
    "And you admit it?" Kish held his hands up. "Don't blast me, boss. I'm going to check on the
    casino. None of this is my business. None of it. Kish wants to live, so he's leaving. 'Bye." He barely
    opened the door before he rushed through it, out of their sight.
    Kat gave Sin an amused smirk. "Interesting help. Is he your Squire?"
    Sin shook his head before he picked his coat up and draped it over the back of a bar stool. "I'm
    not a Dark-Hunter. I don't do Squires."
    "Interesting choice of words."
    He gave her a droll stare. "Ha ha."
    She moved to stand beside him so that she had him trapped between her and the bar. "So why are
    you considered a Dark-Hunter then?"
    "Acheron's idea. He thought adding me to the payroll was the least he could do given what Artemis
    had done to me."
    "But you don't hunt Daimons."
    "No. Acheron knew from the beginning that the gallu were out there. So the two of us have been
    keeping them under control."
    Kat frowned at that. "Ash helps?"
    "Why are you surprised?"
    "I thought you said no one outside your pantheon could kill them."
    "Yeah, well, your father's a little different from others. I'm sure you know that."
    Kat couldn't agree more. There was a lot about her dad that was odd, to say the least. "Then what
    makes you think I can't do it?"
    "You're not a Chthonian. If you were, you wouldn't have a weakness."
    Kat arched a brow. The Chthonians were god-killers. Rather like a check and balance system
    provided by nature. They alone had the power to destroy anything indestructible. The only problem was
    no one knew how to destroy them. The only person who could kill a Chthonian was another Chthonian.
    "Is that their secret?"
    "Not really. Most ancient gods know that one. It's why they're so afraid of Chthonian justice."
    True. They alone made the ancient gods sit up and listen. Unfortunately for Sin at the time her
    mother's pantheon was attacking his, the Chthonians were turning on one another and there had been no
    one there to protect his pantheon.
    Kat glanced out the tall windows to her left where she had a spectacular view of the Vegas strip.
    "So why are you out here in the desert anyway?"
    "Logistical management. My father put the Dimme and gallu out here because at the time the
    population in America was scarce and he thought it would be a good way to control them. Unfortunately,
    he lacked the vision to see nuclear development in the twentieth century. With Nevada's testing, it began
    to shake out the gallu and free them dozens at a time. As they go free, I hunt them and their victims."
    Kat took his hand in hers so that she could study all the scars that marred its beauty. She
    remembered when she was a young woman and her mother had summoned her to her bedroom.
    "Help me, Katra. We have to take his powers from him or he'll kill me."
    Kat flinched at the memory. Sin had been unconscious at the time. Too young and gullible, she'd
    done