Healed by Fire by Catherine Banks Page B

being truthful,
Artemis. Neither of your mates has broken his vow to you.”
    I frowned at him as I looked back at Ares
and Achilles talking quietly to each other. “I’ve never mated with
Achilles, Victor. You know that.”
    He shrugged. “You are still bound to him as
you are to Ares. It is not so different.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Not the point. So, if he
didn’t create them, then who did?”
    Victor said, “Koda, among others from the
pack who are on Ares’ side.”
    “I’m sure that was a difficult task for
them,” I muttered. I felt like an idiot for storming away from Ares
and Achilles.
    Ares walked up to me and asked, “What’s
wrong?”
    I buried my face in his neck and whispered,
“I thought they were your children.”
    Ares pushed me back and held me at arms
length. “Artemis, you should know me better than that.”
    I blushed and said, “I was gone over a
hundred years. I didn’t know…”
    Ares asked, “What about you? I won’t be
angry since you didn’t have your memories, but…”
    “No!” I yelled a little too loudly. I
lowered my voice, “No, I didn’t. I lived in the witches coven
surrounded only by women. Oh and Draco-Blu, but no I didn’t.”
    Ares hugged me again and kissed my cheek. “I
still can’t believe you’re here after so long.”
    I laid my head on his shoulder and sighed
happily. “It does feel like it has been an awfully long time since
we’ve been together.”
    “Yes, well, could we finish with the
introductions?” Achilles asked with a hint of anger in his
voice.
    “I’m still curious to see what Artemis meant
about gaining power,” Victor said behind us.
    Ares walked with me back to the bowing
group. “You just need to accept them as your followers and we can
move on.”
    “Um, okay. I accept you as my followers,” I
said nervously.
    The group stood up and then returned to the
house. How could all of them fit in there?
    “Alright, show us this new power,” said
Victor.
    I looked around. “Are there any vampires who
could be hurt by the sun here?” Victor shook his head. I lifted my
hands up in front of my chest, palms facing each other. Warmth
filled my body as I called upon my magic, which was much easier now
that I was whole, and a ball of sun formed between my hands. I
looked up and found Victor, Ares, Koda and Achilles staring at me
in complete shock. “Sunlight,” I said.
    All of the men walked up to me and examined
the orb of sunlight I held.
    “Incredible,” whispered Ares.
    “I didn’t know any of us could do this
anymore,” said Achilles.
    “How big can you make it?” asked Victor.
    Theseus said, “She sent it out in an
expanding ring to turn a group of vampires who had surrounded us
into ash.”
    Victor’s eyes widened. “Show me.”
    I shrugged and released the orb and then
formed a ring of sunlight around my body. I gathered my magic and
then sent the ring out, expanding it as it moved farther away from
my body. Instead of letting it go as I’d done previously though, I
held it when it was about a mile in circumference.
    “Remarkable,” said Victor. “No wonder my
father renewed his quest for her. Who did you do this in front
of?”
    I looked at Koda. “The guy you were asking
me about. I did it in front of him.”
    Koda’s eyes widened. “Oh no.” He turned to
Ares. “I think she met Apollo.”
    Everyone went still at the mention of his
name. “Who’s Apollo?” I asked softly.
    Ares shook his head. “We don’t have time to
talk about him. We need to get everyone together and move. If it
was Apollo, he’ll be searching for her.”
    “Ares! Why are you still keeping me in the
dark?”
    Ares sighed. “He’s the leader of a faction
of vampires, which are stronger than the normal ones. Apollo is
taking beings like trolls and Sidhe and turning them into vampires.
He alone controls the group.”
    Vampire-Sidhe? Unbelievable.
    Ares picked up my hand and smiled. “Come on,
let’s hunt first.”
    Koda shifted forms,