Invision Page 20

  "Maybe this is what Grim meant when he threatened us."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Rule one ... what's the best way to defeat your enemies?"

  "Psychologically." Leave it to Caleb to know that. "You beat them down in their mind and it's easy to beat them down in their body."

  She nodded at him. "Exactly. Maybe that's what this is."

  "But Ambrose was the one who told me to get the Eye."

  "The Eye of Ananke?"

  He turned around as Menyara rejoined them. "Yes, ma'am."

  She made a sound of supreme noise. "Child, you don't want any part of that. It'll make you crazy."

  "Too late for that. It's already happened. And it won't stop spamming with crazy junk mail, either. How do I turn it off?"

  "That's the problem. You're the Malachai. You can't."

  "Lovely. That warning would have been much nicer before I touched it."

  Menyara cupped his chin. "As if you would have heeded any warning.... One day, child, I hope you will learn to ask and look before you leap. You've always been too fast to act first. Look at what you're falling into, after you're already on your way down."

  She was right and he hated that about himself.

  Tapping him on the nose, she moved her hand to quickly smack his bottom before she stepped around him. "Now. What was this about another Malachai?"

  Nick nodded. "But in my visions, I'm always older when he kills me. And so is he."

  "Like he was hidden and brought in to kill you at a specific time and place?"

  "Well ... I hate the sound of that. But now that you've put it that way, that's exactly what it's like."

  Kody scowled. "How could they get his child and he not know it?"

  Menyara gave her a droll stare.

  "Same way Jared had Cherise," Xev said slowly, "and has no idea she was ever conceived or born. It's easy to hide a baby from his father."

  "It's what I begged Cherise to do with Nicholas and Adarian. But she refused. It's almost as if some part of her knew what had been done to her own father, and she didn't want to do that to another."

  Nick rubbed his chin. "I'm thinking this has to be Grim. It would make sense, right? What better way to get ahold of a Malachai and control him than to raise your own?"

  "In that case, I have an easy solution." Caleb pulled a butterfly knife from his pocket and twirled it open. "Xev, hold him down."

  Nick made a most undignified sound as he teleported to land behind Kody for protection. "Hey! Look at me learning my powers finally. That was an impressive jump."

  "Yeah, but not far enough." Caleb started for him again.

  Kody blocked his path. "Okay, you've had enough fun. No more threatening the Malachai."

  "Who said it's a threat? I think it's a viable option. No one will miss it." He looked to Xev. "You're with me on this one, right, brother?"

  "It would save the headache later."

  Nick went pale as terror consumed him. "Mennie, help!"

  Oh dear heaven, even she appeared to be considering it.

  "Menyara!" Nick whined.

  "Ach, you're right. If it's meant to be, it would serve no purpose to maim him. However..." Menyara paused to pin him with a meaningful glare. "Until we figure this out, you need to make sure you keep your fishing pole in its closet. And not go visiting someone else's pond with it."

  Nick screwed his face up at her. "I am extremely uncomfortable with this entire line of conversation. And have no fears, my fishing pole is quite happy where it is. It ain't going nowhere."

  Sighing, Caleb closed his knife. "And I better not hear about any alien abductions or probes, either."

  "You know," Nick snapped at them. "On second thought ... I liked it a lot better when the two of you didn't get along."

  As soon as those words were out of his mouth, Menyara cocked her head. She turned slowly to face Xev. "What happened to your hair and eyebrows?"

  Caleb moved to stand between them as if to protect his brother from the ancient goddess. "Our father did it. If you have an issue with it, I suggest you take it up with him."

  "You're defending him now?"

  "After everything I've done against him, he saved my life when he didn't have to."

  Menyara opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, a furious knock sounded on the door.

  Nick stiffened as he felt a surge of something profoundly deadly on that porch.

  As Menyara reached to open the door, he started to tell her no.

  He never got the chance.

  A preternatural wind blew the door from the hinges and shattered it into a million splinters. Nick grabbed Kody to shield her with his body.

  Ready to battle, he looked up and saw Aeron rushing into the room to join them.

  Aeron met Menyara's gaze. "Drop shields to let me friends in."

  "Friends?"

  "Aye, we're coming in hot and there's the devil on our tails."

  CHAPTER 16

  Nick manifested his sword as he glared at Aeron. "Dude, it's good to see you. But really ... did you have to break the door apart? Makes it hard to slam splinters in their face."

  "Wasn't me!" He gestured over his shoulder at the ...

  Nick didn't even have a word for that. No frame of reference whatsoever.

  "Honey, what did you bring home with you? You know mountains don't fit at the dinner table. And it don't look like it eats gumbo, either." Then the sarcasm died as Nick saw the two wolves running at them.

  One white, shooting flames from its nostrils as it ran.

  The other was a huge piece of familiar ebony rage.

  "Zavid?" he asked in disbelief.

  Aeron clapped him on the back. "Aye, we found him just lollygagging about. Thought you might be missing your playmate."

  The two wolves were being followed by a terrifying female demon. One with hair the color of Artemis's and eyes painted black to match her soulless eyes. When Nick stepped forward to blast her, Aeron caught his arm.

  "Nae! One of ours, too."

  "Pick up anyone else on your way home?"

  Aeron laughed. "Nae, boyo. Just these two of me old mates and yours. Try not to kill them."

  "Noted." Nick grimaced at the foul demons chasing them. "How many hell-monkeys did you invite over this time? No offense, we're going to have to go to Winn-Dixie and make some groceries. 'Cause the one thing hanging around Simi has taught me--demons all got tapeworms and hollow legs, and I don't think Menyara can cover it. They don't look like a sugared grapefruit will satisfy their cravings and I'm not about to give them sugar-coated Nick."

  Caleb eyed the demons then Nick before he grinned at Xev. "Remember the story of Medea and Jason?"

  "Yeah, what of it?"

  "I'm thinking we start cutting up the Malachai and chucking pieces of him at them 'til they go away."

  "I'm good with that. But you have to tell Cherise what you did to her boy. Because honestly? I'd rather face the hell-monkeys."

  "You're right. Anyone else got a bad idea?"

  "Yeah," Nick said with a laugh. "I got lots of bad ones, but I'm trying to hold out for a good one for once."

  Kody gulped at the giant demon that was leading the hell-monkey pack. "I'm terrified past all rational thought." She manifested her bow.

  The other girl was stopped at the door by Menyara's protection. She literally slammed into the invisible force field and cursed.

  Menyara narrowed her gaze on Aeron. "What is she?"

  "He is a cyhyraeth ... a bean-sidhe."

  She gave Aeron an irritated smirk. "I know what a cyhyraeth is, Aeron."

  "Sorry, love. Most just stare at me blankly whenever I use the term. Didn't mean to judge you by their ignorance of me culture."

  She dropped the shield to allow the cyhyraeth in.

  Aeron inclined his head. "Everyone, meet Vawn. Now, me lovely, shall we light them up?"

  A slow insidious smile spread across Vawn's face. "Aye, like it's Nos Galan Gaeaf." And with that, he manifested a blue spectral ball of light while Aeron conjured his own short Welsh war bow.

  "Is that a god-bolt?" Nick asked Vawn.

  "Much better, like. It be a corpse-light. Care to see why we call it that?"

  "Yeah, sure."

  Vawn let it fly out the door, toward their enemies. The moment it neared them, Aeron dipped his arrow down for Kaziel to set on fire with his breath, then released it to ignite the corpse-light.

  The instant those three things came together, they formed what had to be the equivalent of demon napalm. It let loose a wave of energy that backlashed and knocked everyone except Aeron, Kaziel, and Vawn off their feet. It shattered glass across the entire neighborhood, overturned cars, and set off every alarm within a two-mile radius.

  It also wrapped around the demonic mountain and his friends like an inescapable, spectral webbed hand that plucked them up, slammed them down, and sucked them into some kind of vortex.

  Along with a few other nearby objects the neighbors were bound to be pissed off about losing. But hey, that was what happened when you shared your zip code with an ancient goddess and lived too close to a hell-gate.

  Sighing, Xev passed an I-told-you-so stare to Nick and Caleb. "Remember what I said about letting them get together? And that was without their new friend in the mix."

  Nick crossed himself. "Keep them away from liquor, right?"

  "Yeah. I'd even lock up the cough syrup. Just to be safe."

  "Duly noted."

  Proud and smug, the three Celts turned around to face them. With his hip cocked, Aeron held his bow against his thigh while Vawn crossed his arms over his chest and stood with his spine parallel to Aeron's. Still in his wolf form, Kaziel moved to sit between them, at their feet.

  Nick shook his head at the frightening sight they made.

  Caleb snorted. "And that is why on ancient battlefields they were known as arswyd gan drindod."

  "What's that mean?" Nick asked.

  "Terror by a trinity."

  "Yeah, I can see that." Nick pushed himself up. "Don't get cocky, guys," he said to Aeron and crew. "Or else we'll make you explain this to the neighbors."

  He went to help Menyara. "Speaking of, how do you explain these things to your neighborhood, anyway?"

  "Hurricanes. Tornados. Gas explosions work sometimes, too. When that fails, government conspiracy. You'd be amazed how quickly they seize onto that one."

  "Not really. I'd much rather believe the government is out to get me than a pack of fire-breathing hell-monkeys." Nick approached Vawn respectfully. "So ... talk to me about the corpse-light."

  "What about it?"

  "Do all Legolas banshees have them as weapons?"

  Scowling, she tilted her head to speak to Aeron in Welsh. "What's a Legolas and is he meaning to be insulting?"

  "Nae, he's attempting to be charming. Not so much with Legolas, but even that's more teasing than mean. Though he be the Malachai, he's not a cruel beast. He's truly trying to come to an understanding of what you really are. And speaking of, as the Malachai, he understands your Welsh so it does you no good to switch to it in front of him, as he knows every word we be saying."

  "Oh..." Vawn turned back to study Nick for a minute. "That's the Malachai, is it?"

  Nick feigned a deep chest wound at the way Vawn said that. "Now who's insulting who?"

  Vawn held her hands up. "No insult meant ... exactly. You're just not what comes to me mind with that word. At all."

  "Especially given the animals where we've been kept."

  Nick went over to Zavid and held his hand out to him. "You've no idea how worried I've been since they told me what happened to you. I'm so sorry."

  "Aeron told me." Gratitude glowed in his eyes. "Thank you." Zavid looked around at everyone in the room. "All of you. I didn't think I'd ever get away from Noir."

  Caleb approached him and pulled the collar back from his black shirt to examine his neck. For what, Nick had no idea. But it was obvious, he was hunting for something in particular on Zavid's skin. "How did he get ahold of you to begin with?"

  "Livia. Bitch threw me to him. I was protecting her one minute and the next...." His eyes flashed red. "If I ever get the chance to return the favor, I will open her throat and bathe in her blood."

  Nick felt awful for him. He could only imagine how badly they'd mistreated him, especially given the horrors he'd seen Zavid suffer while held in Hel proper. "Why didn't your sister tell us where you were?"

  "They destroyed her soul." Tears gathered in his eyes. "For that I will kill Grim one day. This is now a personal war for me. And I won't rest until I make sure he feels my full wrath."

  Caleb clapped him on the back and stepped away.

  Xev arched his brow at him.

  His gaze sincere, Caleb inclined his head. "He's clean and telling the truth. Our father got him away without a mark. He's ours again, free of their powers."

  Zavid gaped at them. "Verlyn's your father?"

  "Yeah."

  Vawn winced. "I hated to leave that one behind, I did. Never did I think to feel sorry for one of his ilk. But we owe him everything. He put himself to the hazard for us and fell back to take the full brunt of punishment from Y Tywyllwch."

  "Tho?" Kody asked.

  "The Mavromino," Nick answered absently, though how he knew ... well, he knew how he knew, it just still stunned him whenever his powers allowed him to comprehend languages he'd never studied before. "Is there any way to free him?"

  They shook their heads in unison.

  Caleb clapped him on the shoulder. "There are some problems not even the great Malachai can solve."

  "Not helping."

  Neither was the fact that Menyara repaired her door by holding her hand out, muttering in the primal language, and it reassembled as if nothing had happened to it.

  Oh to be able to command the elements like that.

  Nick pouted at her. "You could have done that before the monsters gave your favorite Boo a cardiac arrest, Aunt Mennie."

  Cupping his chin in her hand, she snorted at him. "There is much here that isn't right."

  "You think it could be tied to the deaths of the Squires?"

  Menyara froze at Nick's question. "What deaths?"

  "Ash and Kyrian were talking about it. There's been a bad outbreak in Squire deaths. They assumed it was from Daimon attacks."

  "Or something worse." Menyara held her hand out. An old book came flying off her shelves to hover in the air before her. Using her powers, she flipped through it. "I think we're dealing with a Div."

  Caleb let out a nervous laugh. "They're extinct."

  "Supposedly," Menyara mumbled.

  Nick was sure he had the same look of tasting bile on his face that Xev, Kody, and Caleb wore. "Aunt Men, I think I can speak for the whole group here when I say we don't like that word. Not that I know what a Div is, but your tone says that whatever it is, it sucks to be human whenever one's around."

  "Nice summation. And also very true." Caleb stepped closer to the book. "But it would make sense. A Div would drain your powers. Require human flesh to sustain itself..."

  "And would have imprisoned me in the same realm their leaders were once banished to."

  Nick's jaw went slack. "You were banished with them?"

  She nodded slowly as Xev cursed.

  They all looked at him.

  "The body in the store that didn't decay? The one we fed to Simi? If that was a Div..."

  Caleb turned pale. "We didn't destroy his soul. It would be intact wherever he had it hidden."

  Xev nodded. "And with it intact, he could take possession of her."

  Appearing as sick as Nick suddenly felt, Kody groaned at the sound of those words. "Are you telling me that we gave a Charonte to a Div?"

  "We have to find Simi."

  "Wait!" Nick grabbed Caleb's arm as he started for the door. "For those of us informationally challenged ... hello? What exactly is a Div?"

  "One of the scariest, mos t lethal classes of demon." Caleb passed a pained stare to Menyara. "They are a special nightmare. Like parasites, they're drawn to other powerful demons and gods. Once they find them, they can drain them and use their powers, similar to a siphon, except they don't have to make physical contact. They just have to be within a few hundred yards. Then they move into the host and make him or her their bitch."

  "You think it's what got Nashira and Dagon?"

  "Maybe." Xev sighed. "I wouldn't put anything past one. They were a vital part of the Mavromino army, since it's hard to kill an army made up of the faces of dead loved ones." He passed a gimlet stare to Caleb.

  "You're never going to let me live Zykesh down, are you?"

  "No. You annihilated my entire army--right down to slaughtering all the city's chickens."

  Caleb rolled his eyes until he saw the horrified gape on Kody's face. "My men were hungry after the battle."

  "And used the bones of my men for skewers to roast those chickens."

  "It seasoned the meat while it cooked--gave it a nice ... okay, I can see your point. Your anger might have some merit."

  Kody finally managed to close her mouth. "So what I'm hearing is that we owe a huge debt to Lilliana for pulling Caleb out of play for a time and taming him down a bit?"

  "Yes," Xev said. "By removing Malphas from battle, it allowed us to gain the upper hand. He was one of their few generals who could and would strategize. And my brother knew exactly how to maximize damage. And hit you hardest where it did the most damage."

  "Yeah, but Lil was right. I was a lot deadlier when I fought to protect her and her people, than I was while I fought because I was pissed at my father and wanted to get back at him."

  "Indeed. Mal was the only commander we ever had who led his troops against the Div, and not only survived the battle--he won."

  Nick arched a brow at him. "How'd you do it?"

  "A Malachai sword will kill them and they're attracted to powerful enemies. We lined up our strongest and armed them with Malachai swords."

  "How'd you get Malachai swords?"

  "Trophies," Kody whispered. "Whenever a Sephiroth kills a Malachai, he or she takes the sword as a trophy of their skill. It's a badge of honor for them."

  Caleb nodded. "Back then, there were Sephirii who had decorated their entire rooms with those swords."

  Nick curled his lip at the thought of such a grisly thing. Not that it was that grisly. Just that he would have probably been one of those Malachai they were so proud of killing.

  Aeron moved to squeeze Nick's shoulders. "If only we knew where to lay hands upon one of those swords, eh, mate?"