Instruction.
Acheron lowered the cowl to his black chiton and eyed each man in turn.
As they noted the swirling silver color of his eyes, the men paled.
"Are you a god?" the tallest one asked. "We were told a god would kill us if we were in their presence."
"I'm Acheron Parthenopaeus," he said quietly. "Artemis sent me to train you."
"I am Callabrax of Likonos," the tallest said. He indicated the man to his right. "Kyros of Seklos." Then the youngest of their group, "and Ias of Groesia."
Ias stood back, his dark eyes hollow. Acheron could hear the man's thoughts as clearly as if they were in his own mind. The man's pain reached out to him, making his own stomach tighten in sympathy.
"How long has it been since you men were created?" Acheron asked them.
"A few weeks for me," Kyros said.
Callabrax nodded. "I was created about the same time."
Acheron looked to Ias.
"Two days ago," he said, his voice empty.
"He's still sick from the conversion," Kyros supplied. "It was almost a week before I could . . . adjust."
Acheron stifled the urge to laugh bitterly. It was a good word for it.
"Have you killed any Daimons yet?" he asked them.
"We tried," Callabrax said, "but they are very different from killing soldiers. Stronger. Faster. They don't die easily. We already lost two men to them."
Acheron winced at the thought of two unprepared men going up against the Daimons and the horrific existence that awaited them when they'd died without souls.
It was followed by the memory of his first fight . . .
He blocked the thought out of his mind. Though Takeshi had been a great teacher, he'd never fought a Daimon. And the one thing Acheron had learned was that both he and Savitar had failed to tell him everything. Those first years had been hard and brutal.
"Have the three of you eaten tonight?"
They nodded.
"Then follow me outside and I'll teach what you need to know to kill the Daimons."
Acheron worked with them until it was almost dawn. He shared with them everything he could for one night. Taught them new tactics. Where and how the Daimons were most vulnerable.
At the end of the night, he left them to their cave.
"I shall find you a better place to hide in daylight," he promised them.
"I'm a Dorian," Callabrax said proudly. "I require nothing more than what I have."
"But we're not," Kyros said. "A bed would be most welcomed to me and Ias. A bath even more so."
Acheron inclined his head, then motioned for Ias to join him outside.
He stood back as Ias left the cave first, then directed him away from the others' hearing.
"You want to see your wife again," Acheron said quietly.
He looked up, startled. "How do you know that?"
Acheron didn't answer. Even as a human, he'd hated personal questions as they most often led him into conversations he didn't want to have. Pricked at memories he wanted to keep buried.
Closing his eyes, Acheron let his mind wander out, through the cosmos until he found the woman who haunted Ias's mind.
Liora.
She was a beautiful woman, with hair as black as a raven's wing. Eyes as clear and blue as the open sea.
No wonder Ias missed her.
The woman was currently on her knees, weeping. "Please," she begged to the gods. "Please return my love to me. Please let my children have their father home."
Acheron felt sympathy for her at the sight and sound of her fears. No one had told her yet what'd happened. She was praying for the welfare of a man who was no longer with her.
It haunted him.
"I understand your sadness," he said to Ias. "But you can't let them know you live now in this form. Humans will fear you if you return home. Try to kill you."
Ias's eyes welled with tears and when he spoke, his fangs cut his lips. "Liora has no one else to care for her. She was an orphan and my brother was killed the day before I was. There is no one to provide for my children."
"You can't go back."
"Why not?" Ias asked angrily. "Artemis said that I could have my vengeance on the man who killed me and then I would be alive to serve her. She said nothing about my not being able to go home."
Acheron tightened his grip on his staff. "Ias, think for a moment. You are no longer human. How do you think your village would react if you returned home with fangs and black eyes? You can't venture out into daylight. Your allegiance is to all mankind, not just to your family. No one can meet the obligations of both. You can't ever go back."
The man's lips quivered, but he nodded in understanding. "I save the humans while my innocent family is cast out to starve with no one to protect them. So, that was my bargain."
Acheron looked away as his heart ached for the man and his family.
"Go inside with the others," Acheron said.
He watched Ias return while he thought over the man's words. He couldn't leave it like this.
Acheron could function alone, but the others . . .
Closing his eyes, he willed himself back to Artemis.
This time when her women opened their mouths to scream, Artemis froze their vocal cords. "Leave us," she commanded them.
The women rushed for the door as fast as they could, then slammed it shut behind them.
As soon as they were alone, Artemis smiled at him. "You are back. I didn't expect to see you so soon."
"Don't, Artemis," he said, curbing her playfulness before she started with it. "I'm basically back to yell at you."
"For what?"
"How dare you lie to those men to get them into your service."
"I never lie."
He arched a brow.