Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) Read Online Free PDF Page A

at the bottom of the
stairs with a look of betrayal on her face.
    “Yeah, baby, it is.” He couldn’t remember the last time
she’d called him Daddy and it broke his heart to hear her say it with such
disappointment in her voice.
    Mirissa walked into the living room and looked at each man
in turn. “Start at the beginning, and don’t leave anything out,” she commanded.
    For the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening,
Mirissa received instructions about the Amazons, the Greek Gods, and
Kakodaemons, or Kakos, as they were now known.

Chapter 9
    At the turn of the fifth century BC, the Amazons were a
well-known, and well-feared, tribe of female warriors. Their prowess with the
bow and arrow was legendary and, as a result, their tribe spread throughout
Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and even northern Africa.
    Contrary to popular beliefs at the time, the Amazon tribe was
peaceful by nature, spending much of their time studiously learning about the
world around them. Their society was the inspiration for the famous “ideal
society” that Plato spoke of in his dialogue, The Republic . They became
experts in farming, designing irrigation systems that rivaled those of Egypt,
and developed their skills as warriors until they were a formidable force for
any army. They were ruled by a Queen that was elected based on her wisdom and
courage, and they flourished for years.
    The Amazons fought many battles against armies that
threatened their way of life and, as worshippers of Artemis, the Greek Goddess
of the Hunt, they fought also to defend her. Unlike other societies of the
time, they did not fight to gain territory or riches; they chose their battles
based on who needed their help.
    Regardless of their great skills and talent as warriors, the
armies they fought were less angry about being defeated, than they were about being
defeated by an army of women. As their reputation grew, so did the animosity
toward them.
    When a Greek army defeated one of the Amazon tribes, instead
of killing their prisoners, as was the Greek way, they followed the advice of
Ares, Artemis’s half-brother and the God of War. They chose to humiliate the
legendary Amazons by taking them back to Greece and forcing them into what the
Greeks considered a more suitable life for females.
    Ares wanted to do more than just humiliate the Amazons. He
wanted to destroy them. Armies throughout his kingdom had long revered Ares,
but the Amazons had begun to change that. With every army that was plundered by
the female warriors, Artemis grew in strength and power. She was no longer
simply the Goddess of the Hunt, but was referred to by many as the Goddess of
War. Even Zeus, their father, had begun to speak more highly of Artemis than he
did of Ares.
    In a last ditch effort to thwart the Amazons and regain his
standing, Ares struck a deal with the God of the Underworld, Hades. Hades
created a race of demons, the Kakodaemons, which possessed all of the abilities
needed to defeat the Amazons—strength, agility and stamina—as well as an
all-encompassing hunger to do so. In return, Ares promised that the souls of
all that were killed by the Kakodaemons would be sent directly to Hades to
spend eternity in his underworld hell.
    When the Amazons joined the Trojan War to help defend King
Priamos against the Greeks, Ares sent his Kakodaemons to join the Greek army.
In one of the bloodiest battles ever fought, the Amazons were defeated and more
than half of their forces were slain.
    In their battle against the Athenians, the Amazons were once
again annihilated by the Kakodaemons hiding among the enemy soldiers. Battle
after battle was fought, and lost, by the once mighty Amazons, and their
prayers to Artemis begged for answers and for help.
    When Artemis found out what her half-brother had done, she
vowed to make things right for her Amazons and for all mankind. She knew that
the Kakodaemons’ hunger would drive them to annihilate the humans as well as
the