Introduction
Written By Serenity

~Orlando, Florida~

"I'll be there in a minute," she said mind to mind with the ancient dark hunter just a second before she was thrown to the ground and tackled by yet another hissing Daimon. They were going strong tonight, one after another after another. Where were they all coming from and why did she seem to the hunted this night instead of the hunter? Bass ackwards night in the intensely humid sunshine state. Starting from the moment she had landed from her Goddess home 'Serenity' onto the famous Orange Ave. she had been jumped by a gang of blond pain in the asses. The first three had been delt with and turned into gold dust in the wind in just a few moments. Two more remained, and her bitch demon wanted a go at them. "Sorry deary, but your limit is one tonight," she reminded the evil bitch within as she throttled both daimons away long enough to get to her feet. Unsheething the golden sword which had materialized at her side with a passing thought she held it in a firm grasp as the daimon to her left charged her. Standing still, showing no sign of movement she waited, and waited, until the hissing vampire was an arms length from her. Side stepping his advance she released a side kick to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him with the impact and making him double over long enough for her to thrust the sword down and decapitate him. The body never had the time to hit the ground before it shook to dust and blew away on the warm breeze. The remaining daimon was a woman with blond hair, of course, and a petit figure dressed in clothes that hung on her like a tent and were as pitch black as the very hair atop her head. Adorned in goth make-up the blond hair looked out of place with the look the creature was obviously going for.

"Think you can take me on?" she hissed. A dagger appeared in each of her slender hands in an attempt to scare the dark hunter before her.

Serenity only laughed. "You just lost four of your little friends and now you think a couple of daggers are gonna save you from the same fate?"

"Not even a Dark Hunter is safe from a dagger through the heart."

"Very true... Alright," with another quick thought the sword in her hands vanished and so did the collection of throwing knives she wore around her thighs. Nothing remained on her hour-glass curved body to defender herself with. "You have one shot. Make it good."

The woman narrowed a gaze on the Dark Hunter wondering what she was up to. Something had to be out of place. She had no weapons and without them she looked even more delicate than before. The leather hip huggers she wore clung to her long, shapely legs like a second skin and no one should of been able to fight as well as she did wearing the spiked heel boots that reached up to just under her knees. The spikes had to be at least 3 inches high if not more. But still she moved with the grace of a professional killer and exibited the skills of someone who'd been doing this for many thousands of years. To add to it she was unusually beautiful, too beautiful to be just your average dark hunter. She was surreal, so much that it was hard not to want to reach out and touch her gleaming skin to make sure she was not a dream. Nothing in reality could ever look so fine or so perfect. And the eyes. A deep green color and looked to of been spinkled with an equally intense green glitter which gave her eyes life. "What are you?"

Serenity's smile curved into a wicked grin that could of been interpreted as both seductive or dangerous. "You're losing your window of opportunity with me." she said. Her voice carried a soft, feminin echo that was sweeter than the sound of bells or even a romantic ballad being sung by the angels themselves. "Make your move or I'll make my own, I don't have time to play with you tonight."

"How about tomorrow night? I have a place right down the street." the vampire said. Her hiss was no more and in it's place her words sounded flirty and pleasent. Serenity surpressed a laugh. Her wicked succubus had the woman in it's grasp and was drowning her in thoughts such as what her skin would feel like under her touch, beneath her body or the way her dark, pink pouty lips would taste. Under the influence of succubus controlled properly the daimon lowered her daggers and dropped them on the request of whatever was invading her thoughts and making her think of nothing else excepting ridding the Dark Hunter in front of her of all her tight clothing and resting between her legs for days, tasting her for countess hours.

Serenity took a step forward with the intention of infecting the daimon further. She loved to play with them, to confuse them, to make these creatures who considered themselves so high and mightly get down on their knees and beg. It was talent she held even over the Gods themselves. During her reign as the Queen of the Courtesan's of Atlantis she had made the most powerful of being's surrender themselves to what she could offer, even when she had no intention of fulfilling the promise of the demon succubus. It was to be in this possition, not to mention entertaining. But at the moment the voice in her head sounded again. Instead of going through her previous plans she held a hand over one of the daggers the daimon had dropped, summoning it to her palm and sinking the slowly rusting blade through the mark in the center of the woman's chest. Eyes wide and lust-filled she vanished into dust like the rest.

"They will never learn," she breathed and called her weapons back onto her body. The black turtle neck shirt she'd been wearing, a part of her attire when battle commensed, disappeared and was replaced by a plum colored leather bustier with straps that tied in the back and them down around her waist, tied in the back again and then wrapped around her hips and buckled together with a silver lightning bolt and rose.

Sensing the approach of humans she moved silently into one of the many dark alleyways between the rotting buildings and flashed herself into Katoteros, a small region between demensions. She winced having never liked this place. It was dark, and depressing and the air was chokingly bitter. But then again this was a place created by Hades. Shouldn't surprise her that it was so unpleasent.

"Serenity,"

Normally a voice behind her would of whipped her attention immediately, but there was only one person it could be. Only one that could of let her into this place with no problem. Turning she dropped her normal voice and spoke in her natural Atlantean accent. "Acheron."

"Thanks for coming." the ancient Dark Hunter greeted with a blank expression. If he was happy to see her it didn't show.

"You're in need of my help?"

"Yes and no." he said as the dark shades over his eerie swirlng silver eyes disappeared.

Serenity didn't need to ask what it was he had summoned her for. Katoteros was Acheron's place, the spot where Hades had incarcerated him long ago before the red-headed bitch Goddess had freed him. He only asked here when he had questions or information that he didn't want to chance anyone over-hearing or getting wind of. But there was something else to it as well. "Shirt off, turn around." she said to him in a voice as calm as she could make it knowing what she was about to see. Acheron was anything but obediant but in this case he didn't argue. This had been an ongoing thing for years between them. But that still didn't stop her from counting to ten when he did as she asked and revealed his back to be shredded and bleeding heavily. She squelched the urge to ask him the same question that had been on her tongue for centuries, "when will you stop her from doing this to you" but it was a pointless question to ask. Instead she kept her cool and sat down behind him as a tube of ointment, specially designed by herself and treated her with her magical powers of peace. A cloth appeared in her hands and she used to it to stop the bleeding from the wounds before she carefully started to smudge them with the power-filled chemical.

"Thank you." he said plain and simple. He had never been one for words and Serenity had excepted that long ago. The magics she used in the ointment made her soft touch bareable to even him. In all other cases he would rather bleed and hurt than have anyone touch him.

"You've called to ask me what I intend to do with Epithymia." she stated rather than asked.

Ash glanced at her over his shoulder. "Since when have you been able to read my thoughts? Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Ever since he had met the Atlantean Courtesan the constant question he had been searching for an answer for was why he could never once read her as he could other. It had always been that way, ever since the day Artemis had summoned him to begin her training as a Dark Hunter. She had been a closed book to him and irritated him to no end, partially because he couldn't read her and partially because he had a feeling she knew why this was so.

"You know better than that Ash. I can't read you anymore than you can read me." gently she worked the chemical into the open wounds, obviously created by a whip. Having someone like Katishka around she had become well educated on wounds and exactly what had made them. Cursing under her breath she curved the impulse to flash to Olympus and give Artemis a taste of Kat's whip, which was made with piercing magics deisgned by the sadist goddess to tear apart tissue, make it burn, or litterally fry it from existance. Or worse. Depending on Kat's mood.

"Don't remind me."

Serenity ignored his obvious attitude problem and watched while the glistening cream started to slowly close the wounds and knit the skin back together. Not even she could heal them completely. But at least she could take the edge off and hurry the healing process along a bit. "The Goddess of Desire has already targeted by incubus Courtesan's. Myric has mated with Gia, and Ashton has caught her attention before of... well you know. He never gave her the time of day when she was still a physical being. She hates that he will give some of himself to his Hell Kitten, and all of himself to Aedre."

"She wants to get back at both of you."

"Yes she does, and she is doing her worse to make it happen. Myric nearly killed Gia by her hand, and Ashton and Adriana nearly fell over the boundaries set in place. He found me just in time, before it could go further."

"Does he know? Have you told him yet of Epithymia?"

"You mean about how I killed her first born son? Yes, he knows that. She is planning something and I don't know what it is yet. For right now she is just toying with us and making herself known." she finished rubbing the cream into his wounds, each one of them now healing itself at a faster rate and granting him some relief from the intense pain.

Acheron sighed and nodded his thanks to her. His shirt materialized on him again and he turned to face her. She was truely beautiful and had a kind heart despite how dangerous he knew her to be. In some ways she was like himself in the sense that releasing her temper would make many pay in pain and chaos. But at the same time she knew how to contain it and care for those she held close. "You know to call me if things get out of hand."

"I do. But remember I'm about as good as asking for help as you are," she teased at him

Ash growled and got to his feet. He took her offered hands and helped her stand. "Simi wants to pay another visit to Midnight Masquerade sometime. She likes the BBQ on Tuesdays."

Serenity laughed a little. "She's welcome to come anytime, as are you. Will I be hooking her up with one of the Companions finally, daddy?"

"Watch it, Goddess," he half warned, half promised. "I don't want to hear it."

"You never want to hear it. Careful Ash, you're showing your age."

"I feel my age, Goddess. I don't need you to remind me of it."

Again she laughed and touched his cheek with a lightly glowing blue hand. "Ash.... you really need to get laid. And I mean REALLY laid."

"Who says I'm not?" he asked, fighting the urge to pull away from her touch. It was soft and light and pulsed with demonic energy that assured him her intentions were pure. She was one of the few he had ever known that didn't want anything of him other than to comfort and sooth. Something out of character for her as far as all others who knew her was concerned. They knew her to be hard core and strict. He knew her to be soft, gentle and quick to tease and taunt him.

"Who says you are?" she quipped back without a second between comments.

"Point taken," he finally had to remove her hand from his face and take a step back. "If you need me you know where to find me." with that he disappeared.

Serenity looked down as a wash of sadness came over her. "Yeah, I know."