Instinct

  Kody inclined her head to Nick. "The Malachai." Together with his six main leaders, or generals, they made up the usumgallu.

  Xev nodded. "And Nick, alone, can open the supernal realms and unleash the demons en masse into this world to take possession of it. The Malachai is also the only being who can summon the three of us from our prisons. Me. Livia and Yrre." The eternal balance. Three of the usumgallu remained in this world--War, Bane, and Death--while the other three remained in stasis. "No one save the Malachai can ever unlock our gates. But it's not an easy task."

  Nick frowned. "I've wondered about that. Why has no Malachai before me ever let you guys out?"

  "For many reasons. One, it's too draining for the Malachai. There's always a risk that as soon as he frees us, one of us or another might kill him before he recovers enough strength to protect himself. Remember, he's usually a child when he inherits his powers and he can't really control us. If he combines us, it would be easy for us to join together to kill or enslave him. So, the best thing for a Malachai to do is to always put us down ... like a rabid dog, as soon as he takes his father's life. Never give one of us a chance to go for your jugular. We will take it."

  Nick glanced to Kody as a chill went down his spine. He knew how little regard and love Grim and Laguerre had for him, most days. He could only imagine how awful it would be to fall under their "benevolent" control. "Why are you warning me about your friends?"

  Xev rubbed at his brow as if he had a sudden migraine. Or possible brain tumor. "To begin with, they're no friends of mine. While I did share kinship with the original Malachai, we were born centuries apart. With the exception of you, I've only met a Malachai long enough for him to yank me from my hole, drain my powers, and return me to hell to recharge until the next fun summoning. As for the other sarras, we were enemies in wars where I took great pleasure in kicking their collective asses, so I barely tolerate them." He straightened to glare imperiously at Nick. "I was born the son of Verlyn and Azura, and fostered by Inari. Have you any idea of the power I once wielded?"

  Yeah, that would have been a lot.

  Xev passed a bitterly amused glance to Kody. "To give you an inkling, Gautier, I was the only ancient god born who could kill a Chthonian."

  Nick's jaw dropped at that. The Chthonians were virtually extinct now, but at one time, they had been a race of god-killers who had once waged their own war against Xev's breed. "Seriously?"

  "Seriously. And all that power did was make me a target to everyone around me ... for one reason or another. It never once brought me any kind of happiness." His gaze burned into Nick with his sincerity. "I don't want to be you, Malachai. Hunted. Hated. Friendless. Without haven. I don't want to be a part of this world ... or of anything, for that matter. I'm done with it all."

  Xev's gaze hesitated at a picture on the wall of Nick's Confirmation, where he stood beside his mother outside of St. Louis Cathedral. His eyes flashed red. "I will help you get your mother back for the same reason I saved Nekoda. You were kind to me and I don't believe in repaying kindness with cruelty. But honestly? All I want is to be left alone and forgotten. I have no use for this world. And even less for you."

  Nick frowned. "You really want me to send you back?"

  He rubbed at his arm where the ancient symbols of his curse were branded. "When you've lived without kindness for as long as I have, it becomes its own form of cruelty. It stings in its own unique way."

  Nick despised the fact that he knew exactly what Xev meant by that. It was the same suspiciousness he had whenever someone complimented him. He was so used to being insulted that if, by some miracle, he actually got a compliment from someone, he analyzed it over and over to see if it was somehow a veiled insult instead.

  How sad was that?

  But he couldn't help it. The world had predisposed him to expect meanness from strangers. It shouldn't be that way. But it was. It was why Nick went out of his way to try and make people feel appreciated and important. Especially those others tended to overlook--streetcar drivers, doormen, vendors, janitors, bathroom attendants, maids. Hobos.

  Everyone mattered.

  Kody swallowed hard. "Can I ask a personal question?"

  Xev shrugged. "Sure."

  "Given that amount of power you were born with ... how did they ever capture you?"

  Agony swam in the hazel depths of Xev's rust-colored eyes. His features turned to stone as a single tear slid down his cheek. "There's the bitterest irony of all. They unknowingly sent the only warrior after me I would never harm."

  "Who?" Nick asked.

  "The one life I wouldn't take."

  "And that was?"

  "A life that mattered more to me than my own."

  Nick sighed as he passed an irritated grimace to Kody and gave up on the never-ending hamster wheel loop of madness. It was obvious that even now, Xev had no inclination of sharing that identity with anyone. Whoever it was, he intended to let no one use them to hurt him again.

  He could respect that, too.

  Given that, Nick changed the subject. "So which of the gates do you control in this smorgasbord of fun-filled nightmarish holocaust?"

  "The prison realms of the cursed gods. Both good and bad. I can bring them all back into play and return them to war against each other."

  Kody gestured toward the window. "And the Memitim? Who holds their key?"

  "The souls of the dead are controlled by Yrre. She's the one who would have unleashed them against Caleb."

  Kody went pale. "Nick saw her earlier."

  "What?"

  Nick nodded. "In the hallway at school. Right before Caleb got sick."

  "And neither of you mentioned it before now?" His tone betrayed his outrage.

  "I thought I was hallucinating."

  Xev arched one arctic blue brow. "You do that a lot?"

  "Here lately? More than I want to cop to. Let us not forget that I just got back from an alternate universe. While I like to think I'm adjusting pretty well to that, I do still have some lingering issues."

  Xev cursed under his breath.

  "But the gates were sealed shut after his father died," Kody insisted. "Caleb wouldn't have made that mistake. He knows the severity of those consequences."

  Xev ignored her outburst. "Are there any other hallucinations I need to be aware of?"

  "Aside from you--the cat that drinks up all my milk in the middle of the night while I sleep--suicide crows, ghost riders in the school hallway, killer mosquitos, and plague doctors, I think we're covered. Unless you want to count the rampaging teenage werewolves." He glanced over to Kody. "Oh, and the ghost girlfriend, of course."

  "Plague doctors?" Xev scowled. "What are plague doctors?"

  Nick snorted. "That's all you got out of my rant? Really?"

  Kody ignored him. "Zeitjagers."

  "Why were they there?"

  Shaking his head, Nick shrugged. "No idea. They didn't exactly speak. Just stared at me like my mom at a parent-teacher conference where I royally screwed up. And speaking of, none of this is getting me closer to my mom. I'm thinking we should go see Mark and find out what happened, as soon as possible." He peeked through the curtains. "So how do we get rid of or through psycho Daffy Duck out there?"

  Kody turned toward Xev. "Nick is still in charge, right? He can stop all this from getting worse?"

  "Yes and no. You have to remember, he's not the only creature who can call out Armageddon.... He's only one of them." Xev grimaced. "Granted, he's a very scary one, but he's not the only threat the world has. And we don't know who or what started this. It might be someone after him, or another entity entirely. Someone or something we haven't even thought about yet."

  Nick was so beginning to hate this day. "Look, I don't want to be a threat to anyone, except who or whatever took my mom and hurt Mark and Caleb. I'm an easygoing Cajun. Live and let live. Laissez les bon temps rouler. That's my motto. I just want to live my life in peace." He paused. "After I kill whoever took my mama."
r />   Xev snorted. "Unfortunately, with your parentage, it doesn't work that way. But I agree. We need to speak to your strange homicidal duck urine friend about what happened."

  "Can we teleport past the Memitim?" Kody asked Xev.

  "We should be able to. The worst thing is they might follow the scent, thinking we're Malphas."

  "Then buckle up, buttercup. Let's see how bad I screw this up this time." Nick took Xev's arm so that he could flash the two of them to the hospital, since Xev wasn't familiar with the layout of the building. Sad to say, Nick had been there enough over the last couple of years that he was rather intimate with it.

  Even so, teleporting was still a risky move, but given the weather and the crows, he didn't want to chance driving there while being dive-bombed by piranha birds.

  As soon as they were clear and had materialized at the hospital, Kody appeared right behind them, inside a small broom closet. "Nice choice."

  "Yeah, I was aiming for a bathroom and missed. Oh, well. At least it wasn't the lobby and no one's needing therapy from having seen us appear out of thin air. Remind me, I really need to get one of those flashy things they have in Men in Black. That could really come in handy for embarrassing mistakes." Nick glanced down and smiled. "And look! I'm fully clothed this time! Awesome! I can be taught!"

  Sobering from his rampant sarcasm, he opened the door and checked the hallway to make sure it was clear before he stepped out and motioned for them to follow. So far, it wasn't too bad. They might survive to make it to dinner.

  Nick hoped for the best, but prepared himself for the worst. Just in case. Pulling out his phone, he called Bubba, who answered immediately.

  "Boy, where the devil are you?"

  He looked about on the drab walls for their location. "Floor three. Where you at?"

  "ER, looking for your sorry hide. I swear. You done worried me to death. Taken at least ten years off my life."

  "Aw, don't worry, Bubba. I didn't take them off the good end."

  "You ain't funny. Now where are you?"

  Nick headed for the elevators. "We're on our way. How's Mark doing?"

  Bubba hesitated before he answered. "Why you asking about Mark?"

  "I know about him and my mom." Nick led them into the elevator. "We heard it on the radio in the ambulance, on the ride over."

  Bubba let out a tired breath. "I didn't want you to find out like that, Nick. I'm sorry, son."

  "Thanks. So how's Mark doing?"

  "They busted him up pretty good, but as soon as they get the X-rays back, they'll release him. Just want to make sure there's no internal damage. What about you? I asked and they said you weren't even here."

  "I'm fine. Just worried about my mom and Mark."

  Nick stepped out of the elevator and paused. "We're here. Where are y'all?"

  Bubba came out a few seconds later to lead them to Mark's room, where he lay with one arm in a sling. His blond hair was brushed back, and one side of his face was swollen and red. Whatever had attacked him had gotten the best of him and then some.

  He rubbed sheepishly at his injured arm. "I'm sorry, Nick. You know I wouldn't have let nothing happen to Cherise if I could have stopped it."

  Nick inclined his head to him. "I know. So what happened to you two?"

  "No idea whatsoever. I'd just opened the door to let Cherise into the Jeep when I heard something shriek out like a banshee. One second I was on my feet, the next I was dating asphalt.... I don't even know what hit me. I saw nothing but thick darkness. Like the ground rose up and jack-slapped me."

  Nick groaned silently. This told them nothing. They were right back where they started.

  Nowhere.

  And still his mom was out there.

  Unprotected. Alone.

  He couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her. All his life, she'd protected him. Guarded him with everything she had. Now he felt completely responsible for her, especially since he was the primary reason she was in danger. If he wasn't her son, no one would ever target her for harm.

  I've got to find her.

  And yet, in a strange way, he didn't sense that she was in imminent danger. He couldn't explain it. He had an overwhelming need to find her. But at the same time, there was a part of him that seemed to know she wasn't under immediate threat.

  It was such an odd sensation. One that made his skin literally sizzle and crawl. It moved as if it were alive.

  Yeah, this was a weird, funky feeling that defied description.

  Suddenly, his phone went off. Nick glanced down at the ID to see who it was. "My boss," he said to Kody and Bubba. "Gotta take it." Stepping out of the room, he answered the call.

  "Where are you?" Kyrian's stern tone was undercut by a note of hostile concern.

  "Hospital."

  That only elevated his boss's worried tone. "You okay? What happened? Why are you there? Were you hurt? Was there an accident?"

  It took Nick a second to realize that Kyrian wouldn't have any idea what had happened at school or with his mom. His concern came strictly from the shock of hearing that Nick was in a hospital. Period.

  "My mom was kidnapped and Mark was assaulted while she was taken."

  "What!" Kyrian's roar was deafening. "When did this happen?"

  "Right after school started."

  "And you didn't call me?"

  "I thought you'd be sleeping."

  "Nick--"

  "Kyrian." He duplicated Kyrian's agitated tone. "No offense, boss, there's not a lot you can do this time of day." As an immortal Dark-Hunter whose job was to protect mankind from the soulless Daimons who preyed on them at night, his boss had a nasty tendency to burst into flames should daylight touch any part of his body. "Not like you can come out and check on me. It's fine, really. Bubba's right here, by my side."

  "Still ... I can call Acheron and have him--"

  "Really, it's okay. Why you calling, anyway? You should be asleep." Since Daimons preyed on humans at night and Kyrian couldn't be in daylight, he usually slept all day and didn't wake up until about an hour after Nick showed up for work after school.

  "The weather woke me this morning, and when I checked my phone for voicemail, I saw the notice about the Squire alert at St. Richard's. I wanted to check in with you. Make sure I didn't have to start looking for a new Squire. I hate that crap. Hard enough to deal with you. Last thing I want to do is start breaking in a new pain-in-my-keister. Gah, I'd have to change all the locks on the house again."

  Nick smiled in spite of the awful day and Kyrian's feigned surly tone. He'd gone from having no one look after him to an extended family that still amazed him whenever he stopped to think about it.

  "Bad news. Still alive, boss."

  Kyrian scoffed irritably at Nick's light tone. "Don't worry, kid. I'll get the Squires looking for your mother, immediately. And Acheron. As soon as the sun goes down, we'll all be on it."

  "Thanks. We have absolutely no leads on where to begin hunting her. Any help would be greatly appreciated."

  "We'll find her."

  Yeah, but in what condition? That was the nightmare that was currently haunting him while he was awake.

  "Thanks. Appreciate it."

  As Nick hung up the phone, Kody approached to rub his back. Closing his eyes, he savored the warmth of her touch. His fear and anger churned inside him and he needed her to ground him right now. He wasn't sure what he'd do if she wasn't here to keep him calm.

  "Kyrian's contacting Acheron."

  He felt her hand tremble at the mention of her uncle. Acheron had no idea who Kody was, which made sense given that she wouldn't be born until centuries from now. They couldn't let Acheron know, either, especially since his brother, Kody's father, was currently being held by Artemis in a hellish prison. It would totally wreck Acheron's world.

  For that matter, Nick couldn't imagine how hard it had to be for Kody to be here in this time with her loved ones who had no idea she was related to them, knowing that if they didn't ch
ange things, she'd lose them all over again. That if they made one wrong move, she'd never be born at all.

  It was enough to make him lose his mind whenever he stopped to think about it.

  How could she stand to be near him, knowing he was the sole reason they would one day die? That he, alone, would one day single-handedly wreck her entire life and everything in it?

  Kody's capacity for love defied explanation. It made no sense to him. He doubted if he could be so forgiving in her place. She had every right to kill him.

  But then, that was what made her so incredibly special. What made her hold a part of him that no one else ever would. Like his mother, she was a creature of pure light. One who never failed to warm him no matter how beat down or cold he felt. They could always make him feel better. Make him feel important.

  Make him feel loved and cherished.

  Heroic.

  Cupping her chin in his hand, he leaned down to press his cheek against hers and inhaled the warm, vanilla scent of her skin.

  "What am I going to do, Kody?"

  "What you always do. Fight with everything you have, no matter what they throw at you. Over. Under. Around, or through. There's always a way.... Your enemies will not take mercy on you. The world will not take mercy on you. Therefore, I will not be doing you any favors if I take mercy on you."

  He laughed at something her brother used to say to her. It was something her brother had learned from their father. "Love you, Kode."

  "Love you, too." Rubbing his arm, she stepped back. "You want me to contact Suriyel and see if they know anything?"

  He shook his head. "Let's keep the Arelim out of this for as long as we can. If they don't know anything, I don't think we should notify them. Might stir them up. Make them do something stupid. 'Cause while I like to think I own the majority share of that, it's the part I don't own that others do that keeps me up at night, terrified of what they'll do with their portion of it."