"But then why would Sroasha want me to kill Nick? Especially if he wasn't the one who destroys everything?"
Simi tsked at her. "Make total sense, Akra-Kody. 'Cause if the bad Malachai demon-boy had already kilt you and Akri-Nick, then he'd be stronger. So the best way to beats him would be to kills his father afore he's borned."
"She's right. It'd be the only way to stop him, especially if you don't know who he or his mother is."
Nick scratched his head. "I'm still so confused by that. If I'm in love with Kody and I know it, then I know I didn't two-time her with someone else. I'm not that kind of dirtbag." He jumped as his phone rang and startled him. "Sheez!" Grabbing it, he saw it was Virgil again. Sheepishly, he answered it.
"Where are you?"
"Sorry. Had a little demon trouble to take care of. We're on our way. Be there in a few." He hung up. "I have to meet Virgil and go to the police station."
Kody's eyes widened. "What?"
"Yeah. It's good to be me." He sighed. "Let me get this over with and then we can clean this mess up."
"I'll tell Caleb to meet you there. Just in case you get stuck."
He started to tell her not to be so paranoid, but they were talking about him. Yeah, with his luck, a backup plan was always a smart idea. Things tended to go sideways as soon as he lifted his head off the pillow. Sometimes before he even opened his eyes in the morning.
Sliding the phone into his pocket, he faced Takeshi. "Anything I need to know going into this?"
A deep, dark red light flickered in his eyes. "The future is determined by the decisions you make every second of the day. Victor and victim. Both come from the Latin word, victus. To vanquish or be vanquished, yet the original meaning of victim was to be a living entity killed and offered in sacrifice to some higher, supernatural power."
Those words sent chills over Nick. "Invictus." It was the tattoo on Ambrose's arm that meant unconquerable. Never subdued.
Like his friends Bubba and Mark always said, you might kill me, but I'll be taking you to hell with me so that I can chain you to the throne of Satan myself and spend the rest of eternity whupping your ass. That was the Southern way.
It was also very Cajun and vintage Malachai.
"No dang demon kills me and lives. On that you can bank." Nick held his hand out to Takeshi.
Takeshi smiled as he shook it. "That's the Ambrose I know. Take care. I'll be seeing you, kid." He vanished and left Nashira.
Kody frowned. "Caleb isn't answering his phone." She hung up. "Can you reach him?"
Nick didn't bother with the phone. He used his powers to call out for his surly bodyguard. "Yo! Baby Cay-Cay? I'm doing something stupid and dangerous. You gonna come knock me in the head for it? Or do you plan to let Simi have all the fun honors?"
Caleb didn't answer.
An awful feeling went through him.
Where was Caleb?
Kody swallowed hard. "He's not answering you either, is he?"
He shook his head. "I can't go to Virgil until I make sure Caleb's okay."
"I know. We'll meet you there."
They all teleported to Caleb's front door. Nick would have gone inside since he had permission to get past Caleb's sigils, but he wasn't about to pop in alone when he didn't know what was on the other side, waiting to devour him. While he was about as reckless as anyone could get he wasn't particularly stupid as that tended to be fatal in large doses.
So he paused until Simi, Nashira and Nekoda caught up to him. Then he knocked on the door of Caleb's huge antebellum mansion. The sound echoed through the place.
No one came to the door.
Nick passed a grim stare to the women. "All right. I'm going in first. Simi, anything rears its head, barbecue it up."
Rubbing her hands together, she smiled so wide it showed off her fangs. "Oh goody! The Simi knews there was a reason she loved her demon-boy!"
Not wanting to think about that, Nick took the knob in his hand and used his powers to unlock it. He opened it slowly, expecting snot-demons, hell-monkeys ... who knew what to come flying at him.
But there was nothing in the foyer. Dark and quiet, the house seemed abandoned.
"Caleb? Vawn? Aeron? Xev? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?"
Snorting at his joke, Nashira jerked her chin toward the staircase. "Upstairs. I heard a groan."
Nick bolted for the steps and took them two at a time. He didn't slow until he reached Caleb's upstairs study where he found them wounded and bleeding. "Oh my God!"
In his orange demon form, Caleb was flat on his back and lying with a blood-soaked cloth over his abdomen. "Not exactly the right entity." Then, he groaned.
Aeron grimaced. "Be speaking for yourself, demon. When I lay me hands on the bloody knackers, I'll be teaching them what it is to come at a war god unawares. Ain't been hurt like this since the time I ran afoul of The Dagda."
Vawn nodded in agreement as he drew a ragged breath. "They came upon us like a pack of jackals. So fast we ne'er saw them until they had us all bleeding."
"Who were they?" Nick knelt beside Caleb while Kody checked on Aeron.
"Sephirii."
Nick froze at the last word he expected out of Caleb's mouth. "Pardon?"
Kody shook her head. "That's impossible. They were all put down."
Caleb pushed himself slowly to his feet to face her. His features were strained and earnest while he held his makeshift bandage against his ribs. "Yeah, I know. I was there. I saw them fall. But I also led my army against and for them for hundreds of years. Believe me, I know a Sephiroth sword when it cuts me." He pulled the cloth away to show them the grisly wound on his stomach. "Nothing else looks like this, cuts as deep or burns half as much."
Nick screwed his face up at the painful sight. "Bruh! There's ladies present. Cover that!"
Kody ignored his outburst. "Jared is the only Sephiroth left and he's imprisoned. His sword was destroyed when they enslaved him."
"Yeah, I heard that lie, too." Caleb pointed back at his wound. Then he threw his head back and let out a shout that practically shook his rafters. "Shadow! Get your rank, worthless carcass here. Now! Don't you dare drag your ass or I'll kick it every step from here to Avalon and back."
"Sheez almighty, demon. What's your dama--" the disembodied voice broke off as a man materialized in front of them and he saw Caleb's wounds. "Oh ... you really are damaged."
About half a foot shorter than Nick, he appeared to be mid twenties, with hazel gray-blue eyes that held a storm inside them. The man's hair was a strange shade. Neither light nor dark, it held strands of both and managed to fall between the two colors. And he wore it pulled back into a short, tight ponytail. The one good thing about him was that unlike Aeron, Kaziel and Vawn, his British accent was light, pleasant and easy to understand.
Caleb glared at the man as if he could rip his throat out. And the funny thing was, he didn't react to Caleb's venom at all. He was so cool about it, he practically bled icicles.
"So Shadow, explain to me how it is we were just attacked with Sephirii swords."
Shadow blinked twice before he glanced around at each of them. Still so nonchalant that Nick admired his ability to show nothing. Dang, to have that amount of control over his emotions. He'd never get in to trouble for anything. "No idea."
"Really?"
"Really."
"So, you're telling me that you really destroyed every last one of them like you were instructed to do after the Primus Bellum?"
Only then did his facade crack. In fact, his expression was the same one Nick got whenever his mom asked if he was the one who'd forgotten to put the toilet seat down. Which she already knew the answer to since he was technically the only guy in the house--and Xev didn't count because he was in the disguise of a cat and his mom didn't know it. And well, the nasty buggar never forgot to put it down once he was finished. All that aside, Nick hated it whenever she pulled that crap with him, as it was grossly unfair. Although, to be honest, he'd tried to blame
And that had gone over about as well as Shadow's next words. "Basically. I destroyed the vast majority of them. Yeah."
Aeron cursed, then started for him, but Vawn caught him and held him back.
"Define majority," Caleb said in a voice that let it be known Caleb was only one wrong syllable from unleashing Aeron all over Shadow.
"I was given counter instructions by someone I trusted."
"Who?"
Shadow shook his head. "I took a vow to never disclose that. But I believe what they told me."
Caleb let out a feral growl. "You're an idiot."
"Of course I am. I followed you into battle, didn't I, Commander? And what did it get me?"
A tic started in Caleb's jaw. "As I recall, you came out of it a lot better off than I did."
Shadow took a step forward and lowered his voice to that demonic, evil tone. "You really want to compare those scars, Malphas?"
Nick stepped between them. "All right. Ding! Ding! Fighters to your corners!" He gently nudged more room between them, then turned toward Shadow. "If you think the swords are where you left them, check and see. It's an easy fix. Let's make everybody happy. How 'bout that?" He met Caleb's gaze. "Would that satisfy you?"
Stepping around Nick, Caleb slugged Shadow.
Shadow took the blow without flinching. All he did was wipe the blood away with the back of his hand while he glared angrily at Caleb. "Calm down. I took them into the Nithing. Nothing can get to them there."
"Something did! I was just attacked by a group of them, including Takara!"
Shadow went pale. "Impossible."
"If one more person says that word to me today I swear I'll gut them!" Caleb growled those words out between clenched teeth. "I know my brother's sword."
Technically, it was his nephew's. But since no one was supposed to know Xev was Jared's real father, Nick didn't bother to correct Caleb. Obviously, he didn't trust Shadow with their well-kept secret.
Shadow stepped back. "No one, and I mean no one, knows that I have those swords."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded. "Not even Jared was told."
"How did you end up with them?" Nick asked.
Shadow let out a bitter, scoffing laugh as he raked him with a look that said he equated Nick to a talking gnat. "Who are you and why are you bothering us?"
Nick curled his lip as he let his own offense show. "Not the goo on the bottom of your shoe. That's for sure."
Caleb rolled his eyes. "He's the Malachai."
"Him?" He burst out laughing, until he realized Caleb was serious. "Really?"
"Yeah. Don't underestimate him."
The pained noise Shadow made said he was doubting, big time. But then, Nick was used to that.
Clearing his throat, he returned to Caleb's question. "I hid them deep and have never breathed a word about their location. I knew better."
"What about Lombrey?"
"Not even he could have found them. Believe me."
"Yeah, well. Somebody did, Shadow. I didn't stab myself." He gestured to Vawn and Aeron. "And you're lucky I'm not feeding you to them. Especially given how ticked off they are right now."
"You're sure it wasn't a Sarim medallion sword you faced?"
"I know the difference. Like Nick said, go and check if you doubt me."
"Fine! Let's go! This I can prove." He held his fingers up and snapped them the way someone would irately summon a waiter. An action that would most likely end with water being "accidentally" dumped on their head.
The moment Shadow did that, a whirlwind whipped through Caleb's elegant home.
Nick instinctively reached for Kody.
Simi grinned. "Can the Simi eats the Fringe-Hunters if they comes near us, Akri-Shadow?"
"Only if they attack you, Sim. And if they do, please, have at it."
When the winds cleared and Nick could see again, they were in a strange surreal place. Neither light nor dark, it was a shadowy realm that reminded him of Azmodea where the hellchaser, Thorn, made his home, except everything here was an eerie gray. There was no color whatsoever. "Where are we?"
"The Nithing. It's the shadowland between realms. Like perpetual dusk."
"It's creepy."
Shadow didn't say anything in response to that as he led them to a peculiar looking forest of gray twisted trees. Trees that had almost human-like features.
"You hid the swords in the forest of Woe?" Caleb gaped.
"Last place anyone would look."
"Yeah, you're right about that."
Nick wasn't sure what that or Caleb's irritable tone meant. "Why?"
Kody snorted. "It drains their power and that of any and everything that comes here. Actually, it's a great place since that would keep them about as hidden as being destroyed."
Shadow touched his nose in approval as he nodded. "Exactly. Out of the hands of all evil beasts."
"Except for you?"
He glared at Caleb. "You went there, Mal? Really?" Without another word, he headed for a tree.
Curious, Nick watched as Shadow drew a sigil over the bark and spoke an incantation. The tree bark split apart and opened. Holding his breath, he waited to see these magical swords they were all so hot and bothered about.
But the moment it showed the inside of the trunk, they realized Caleb was right. It was empty inside. There wasn't a single sword to be found.
Shadow and Caleb cursed in unison.
"Told you!"
Shadow shook his head in denial and cursed. "I don't believe this. You see where I kept them! No one else knew about this. No one else could get here to claim them, at all!"
Those words went through Nick as an awful bad feeling made his flesh crawl. "Here's a weird question." They turned to stare at him. "This would count as me learning their location, right? I mean, I don't really know, but I do. And if I've seen what I've seen and someone else saw what I just saw and then asked someone else who might know, then they could use my memory to find them, couldn't they?"
"What did he say?" Shadow scowled at him.
"Nick logic." Kody sighed before she explained it more clearly. "I think he's saying that Ambrose might have stolen them in the future."
"Close. I'm thinking Cyprian did." Nick gestured at the tree. "I just saw the location. Right? So Ambrose would know the location as a memory. Which means Cyprian would have learned it when he got my memories after he killed me. He could have taken that to Grim or someone else and they might have figured it out if they mind-melded with him. At least that's a possibility. So in the future, he could steal the swords and then come back here with them and attack Caleb. Or come back in time and then steal them, then attack Caleb. Either way, he Bogarted the swords from my memories. Possible, right?"
Shadow cursed again--apparently he had trouble with that. "Well ... we just screwed up, didn't we? Why didn't someone tell me we had a time-traveling Malachai we had to guard against? That's new. What, boy? You get frisky in the future with a zeitjager?"
"Uh, no. You seen what they look like? I don't ever want to get so drunk that I tap that. I would sooner die with my wizard powers intact, thank you very much. I will never touch a nip of alcohol or anything else. Ever!"
"Excuse me?" Nashira loudly cleared her throat. "They are quite nice, thank you very much! Much better looking than a Malachai!"
Caleb cleared his throat to keep them on topic. "And we still don't know for a fact that it was Cyprian who got his hands on the swords, folks," he reminded them. "Focus, escapees from ADD Academy."
Shadow jerked his chin at Nick. "His theory's the most sound. Bad as I hate to admit it. It explains how they could have found them."
"Which means those swords could now be in the hands of Noir and Azura. And if they are ..."
Kody's words put a chill down the spine of them all. Noir and Azura were two of the gods of the original source of all evil. If those swords were in their hands ...
It was a bad day for humanity. As the Source, they would have the ability to create new warriors for them. Warriors so powerful that no one could stand against them.
"We have to get those swords back."
Caleb laughed.
Until he realized she was serious. "Child, my entire army couldn't take down the Sephirii and believe me, we tried. All the Malachai together, couldn't defeat them. They tried. It was basically one bloody standoff every time we went to war against them. Which begs the question of who the hell was so stupid as to tell you, Shadow, to keep them?" He turned to glare at the man.
"And I repeat ... someone I trusted. Short list, that."
"You're an idiot."
"No arguments there. I used to hang out with you. Even worse, I followed you into battle, which says it all about my intellect and great mental abilities."
Nick stepped back out of Caleb's way. Given the expression on his face, he wasn't about to get between them in the event the demon started swinging. He knew that look and it never boded well for the person or demon receiving it.
"Before you two go World War III, can I ask something?" Now they were both giving him that glower. "What happened to the demons and swords that attacked you? Did you kill them all?"
"No. We barely beat them off. They were more intent on weakening us."
"Why?"
Caleb shrugged. "They're demons. They don't have to make sense."
Nick snorted at something he knew was bull. "Since when?"
"Since you never do."
He had a point. Still ... "Isn't this sending a flag up anyone's pole, other than mine?"
"He's right." Kody bit her lip. "They came at me and Nick, at the same time they attacked you. It was strategic. Why?"
"Divide and conquer." Caleb pulled the cloth away from his stomach to check his wound. "With those swords, they could have killed us. Yet they chose not to. You're right. There was some reason they pulled back."
A bad feeling went through Nick as he took Kody's hand. "What's your weakness?"
"You."
That single word made his stomach tighten and his heart light. But as sweet as it was, it wasn't what he needed right then. "Seriously, Kode. What are they trying to do with you?"
"While I'm technically dead, this body is living. It can be killed and I wouldn't be able to stay here. I'd have to leave you."
That thought tore him up inside. He couldn't imagine living without her. She was vital to him in a way he couldn't even begin to explain. Like breathing, only more important.
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