Artemis stepped back. This wasn’t something she had foreseen. If she gave him this, then even he would be bound by it.

He could leave her.

She’d forgotten just how devious Acheron could be. How well he knew the rules of the game and how to manipulate them and her.

He was truly her equal.

And yet if she failed to give him this, then he would leave her anyway. She had no choice and well he knew it.

However, there were still things that could keep him by her side.

One way she knew that would ensure his presence in her life for all eternity.

“Very well. Let us make the rules to govern them, then.” She felt his thoughts drift back toward Ias.

He pitied the poor Greek soldier who loved his wife.

Pity, mercy and compassion would always be his downfall.

“Number one, is that they must die to reclaim their souls.”

“Why?” he asked.

“A soul can only be released from a body at the moment of death. Likewise, it can only return to a body that is no longer functioning. So long as they ‘live’ as a Dark-Hunter, they can never have their souls again. That’s not my rule, Acheron, that is simply the nature of souls.”

He frowned at that. “How do you kill an immortal Dark-Hunter?”

“Well, we could cut off their heads or expose them to daylight, but since that damages their body beyond repair, it rather defeats the purpose.”

“You’re not funny.”

And neither was he. She didn’t want to release them from her service.

Most of all, she didn’t want to release him.

“You have to drain out their Dark-Hunter powers,” she told him. “Make their immortal bodies vulnerable to attack, then stop their hearts from beating. Only then do they die in a manner that will enable them to return to life.”