The Malachai wasn't most. Whatever was there lit up every bit of his psychic sense and had it singing a soprano chorus. Nothing could hide from Nick's breed.
Or Jaden, apparently. He stiffened and reached out to stop his sons. "Don't move."
Nick heard the subtle growl off to his right. It was low and powerful, and only registered on the demonic plane. Yet it was enough to let him know that the beast was ready to come for his throat. The sound rippled in the air like low thrumming thunder, with enough energy that he had no doubt the growl, alone, could be weaponized. "What exactly are these things again?"
"Watch and learn, akri-Nick! The Simi will shows you." She flounced around him to kneel a few feet away. "Here, here, akri-Kaziel. No one gonna hurt you, the Simi promises and you knows you can banks it all day long." Clicking her tongue, she held her hand out.
The growling subsided. A slight rustle sounded before the largest wolf Nick had ever seen came out of the shadows.
"Holy mother of God!" Nick involuntarily crossed himself. If he'd had holy water, he'd have flung it at him, too. Not that he thought it'd do any good.
Just for good measure.
As it was, Nick could barely refrain from holding up two fingers in the sign of a cross against the beast.
Yeah, it was that scary.
Give him a demon, a hell-monkey ...
Anything over this monstrous thing. Even on four legs, it had to be over four and half feet tall from paws to haunches. Completely snow white, the hound was all muscled sinew and furry beast. That would be scary enough. Add to that unholy bloodred ears and matching demonic, glowing, flame-red eyes and fangs that showed even when he closed his mouth, and yeah, that wouldn't blend on the street no matter what you tried. Especially given that every other breath shot flames out his muzzle. What it would do, though, was give you nightmares and send you to a psych ward, especially if you were dumb enough to try and tell anyone what you'd seen.
"What did they use those for again?" Nick asked in a voice that came out a lot squeakier and in a much higher octave than he'd intended. One that sounded like he hadn't quite reached puberty yet.
Yeah, it'd just sucked out a whole level of testosterone he wanted back.
Xev stepped around his father. "Messengers of the gods. They guarded the gates of Annwn. Were sent to hunt down the dark ones and Children of Llyr, and unchristened souls. They were also used by the gods in battle. It was said anyone who heard their baying would die. So in a way, they were like banshees."
Nick cleared his throat and intentionally dropped it an octave before he spoke again. "And the gates of Annwn are what?"
"Celtic Underworld." Xev moved slowly toward Kaziel. "You remember me, old friend?"
The way he eyed Xev with those freaky glowing eyes, Nick half expected him to take a bite out of him. But he held himself perfectly still as Xev approached him to present his hand so that Kaziel could sniff the back of his fist.
Only then did the hound shift to his human form. Crouched low, and wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, he unfolded himself slowly to emerge as an even more impressively giant, muscled beast.
Nick crossed himself again. Though this time, he did manage to withhold the verbal expletives. Yet he still exchanged a wide-eyed gaping stare with Kody.
Standing a good two inches taller than Nick, Kaziel had long pale blond hair that fell to his shoulders. Tiny braids interlaced with beads and feathers held it back from his face. That wasn't the nonblending part so much as the facial tattoos that curved from his chin up and over his cheeks like tusks, to come to a sharp point under eyes so light and green they glowed with an ethereal, fey light.
There was also an additional tattoo in the center of his forehead that appeared to be the stylized symbol of some god.
More Celtic birdlike tattoos that were almost identical in form to the ones on the Dark-Hunter Talon, covered the left side of his well-muscled torso beneath his leather motorcycle jacket.
And none of that took in his lethal aura that said, yeah, I'm an ancient warrior who can kick your butt and not care.
Nick frowned. "Are those symbols for the Morrigan?"
Snarling, Kaziel started for him, but Xev caught him and forced him back. "It's okay, Kaz." Over his shoulder, he scowled at Nick. "How do you know that? You never know that kind of thing."
"Talon of the Morrigantes. He has markings like that, in the same place on his body. He's also an ancient Celt. And though his hair is short, he has similar braids, too."
That seemed to calm Kaziel.
Xev released him. "In the case of Kaziel, his have to do with Bran the Blessed. And the sun marks him as being aligned to the children of Don."
Kody pursed her lips. "I thought she was a moon goddess like Artemis."
"But aligned to the side of light."
"So he's like us," Caleb said. "A creature torn between light and dark?"
Xev nodded. "Born of both sides. Forever lured between them. Never trusted by either, and cursed by both."
"That explains it."
Jaden scowled. "Explains what?"
Caleb gave his father a cold grimace. "Why he hides in the cellar and they get along." Then he turned to Kaziel. "Nice meeting you, brother. Welcome to the family.... We should start making T-shirts."
Without a word of comment on that, Kaziel stepped away from Xev to approach Kody. She slid an uncomfortable look to Nick who didn't like the sudden light in those creepy green eyes as Kaziel circled her.
Yeah, he didn't need his powers to guess what thoughts were in the horndog's mind.
Before either of them realized what Kaziel intended, he stepped closer to Kody and nuzzled his face against her hair.
"Okay," Nick snapped. "Dude, enough of that. She's my girl. And you don't go sniffing on other guys' girls. I don't know about the time and place you come from, but it's considered rude here."
When Nick closed the distance between them, Kaziel growled at him.
Nick didn't flinch or back down. "Check the attitude at the door, 'cause I'm about to open up some fresh whoop ... ass."
"We don't need to escalate this to violence." Kody wrapped her hands in Nick's baggy shirt and attempted to push him back a bit, only to learn he had no intention of budging. "I'm sure he didn't realize he was trespassing."
"Does he speak?" Nick asked Xev.
"Can and does are two different things."
"Meaning?"
"Yes, he can speak. He just seldom chooses to do so."
"And I can respect that. Just as I'm sure Lassie can respect the fact that Kody is my girl, and while I try not to be that jealous boyfriend, it is purely a self-serving act I put on so as not to offend her. Inside, I am that jealous boyfriend, and any public pawing of said girlfriend is subject to an uncontrollable fit of rage I may or may not be able to stop, hence the uncontrollable previously promised ass-whooping."
Kody shook her head and sighed. "You really are a basic, cave-dwelling beast, aren't you?"
"Cher, you're lucky my knuckles don't drag across the floor when I walk." He winked at her.
Jaden scowled. "He is not like the other Malachais, is he?"
Caleb clapped his father on the back. "We blame your screwed-up genes on this, all the way around." He wrinkled his nose. "Can't wait to find and meet that next generation of screwed up."
Xev snorted. "Ain't that the truth."
A hurt look passed over Kody's face. "I know I can't be the mother. I'm too young."
Nick bit his lip. "As a Malachai, I have the power to look ahead and see who the mother of the next Malachai is. Right?"
Jaden nodded.
"I wouldn't advise it." Caleb met his gaze.
Xev concurred. "I'm going to weigh in with my brother and Acheron. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
Yeah, maybe, but for now ... "Kaziel, we have a problem. Aeron went missing and we can't find him."
His green eyes darkened to the same red they were in his wolf form.
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No, that wasn't spooky or creepy at all. Not even a little.
His breathing intensified. "Was he attacked, like?"
Oh yeah, now there was a thick, almost unintelligible Welsh accent. It made Aeron's seem bland.
"We don't know. I sent him to watch Kody and he never made it."
Reddish-orange flames radiated from his entire body. His tattoos turned red.
"Xev? Is that normal?"
"Yes."
When Kaziel started to turn around, Xev caught his arm and stopped him. "Where is he?"
"Nether Realm. Rather, he's being held to lure the Malachai."
Jaden let out a tired sigh. "I'll get him and Zavid, and return them."
The color drained from both Caleb's and Xev's faces. "We can't let you do that."
"Like you really care. Besides, if any of you go in there, Noir and Azura will know. No one will notice me."
"Why would you do this?" Caleb searched Jaden's features with his gaze.
"I'm your father."
"Now you get paternal?"
Jaden shrugged nonchalantly. "I've always been a jerk. Take after my sons."
"Wait!" Xev approached him slowly. "You never told us your price for helping us."
Tears welled in Jaden's eyes. "I got to see my boys again." His gaze went to Nick. "Find out that I have a great-grandson ... and you gave me something I haven't had in countless centuries."
"What?" Xev breathed.
"Hope. I don't need anything else."
"You know what they're going to do to you when you return?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "What they do to me has never bothered me. What has always pissed me off is that one by one, all three of you threw away the freedom I bought for you with my blood and soul by chaining yourselves to my enemies because you were too damn hardheaded to listen!"
A tic started in his jaw as he hesitantly held his hand out to Xev. "I know sorry can't even begin to repair the damage I've done to either of you. The mistakes I made were never done for spite or out of cruelty. And if I could bring back Myone or Lilliana, I would."
Pain radiated so deep in Xev's hazel eyes that it choked Nick as he took Xev's father's hand and he pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you for coming."
Jaden didn't speak. But Nick wished Xev could see the anguish on his face as he held him and fisted his hand in his hair. Hair that turned completely black beneath his fist. And before he released him, he kissed his brow, turning his eyebrows black as well.
Nick met Caleb's shocked expression, but neither of them said a word as Jaden turned toward Caleb.
"Stay out of the line of fire."
"And you."
Jaden held his hand out to Caleb.
Tears swam in Caleb's eyes before he took his hand and they embraced.
Then in a bright flash of light, Jaden was gone.
Caleb choked on a sob. "You worthless bastard!" he growled, wiping at his eyes.
Xev cleared his throat. "Kaziel? Could you please go with him and help him free Aeron?"
Kaziel placed a brotherly hand on Xev's shoulder before he vanished.
"You sure you don't want me to--"
"No!" they shouted in unison.
"Okay," Nick said, holding his hands up in surrender. At least that broke their melancholia.
Caleb manifested a small hand mirror for Xev and held it up for him to see. "Thought you'd want to know."
He gasped as he saw himself whole for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. "Why would he lift this portion of the curse?"
"No idea. The others will kill him when they find out."
Smiling, Kody walked over to him. "You look so strange like this. I'll miss the old you."
He laughed at her words. "You're the only one who felt that way."
"Cherise, too."
He lowered the mirror. "My two Arelim." Cupping her cheek in his hand, he kissed her forehead. "Treasure her, Nick. Those who judge only by the heart are far too rare in this world."
"Believe me, I know." Nick paused as a bad feeling went through him.
"You okay?"
Not really ... he still felt odd. "Weird feeling just went through me."
"Weird feeling how?"
Before Nick could speak, a searing pain exploded inside him and drove him to his knees.
CHAPTER 14
Jaden fell back as he manifested near Noir's main bank of "special" rooms where he kept his most hated guests. He was rather sure his name was engraved on the door of the room at the far end of the hall.
As was Seth's.
Guilt wrenched his gut as he paused by that door and he did his best not to think of the horrors that were visited daily upon its occupant. And the fact that there was nothing he could do to spare the demigod his eternal suffering.
All because of Adarian Malachai.
And because of him.
He had so much to atone for. Wrongs made against others for things he'd thought were the right reasons at the time. But with perspective of age and distance ...
Jaden regretted so much of his existence. Yet nothing weighed on him as much as the gulf that divided him from his own children and the wretched fates that were theirs because of his own failure to protect them.
It wasn't like he hadn't tried. That was the bitterest pill of all. Like his sister Apollymi, he'd done everything he could to spare them from the cruelty of others. Sacrificed everyone he'd ever loved and everything he'd ever cherished, and what had it gotten him?
Hated.
Condemned to hell.
Imprisoned and tortured for untold centuries.
He'd once been a primary power of the earth, a fierce, feared primordial god. And now he was reduced to being nothing more than the punch line of jokes bandied about by slug demons or worse. A broker for lesser beings to summon so that they could commune with the brother and sister he hated beyond tolerance or measure.
A brother and sister he'd done his best to destroy the moment they'd been spat out of the farting abyss of darkness itself.
Life was never what you planned for. Never what you thought.
And he was so tired of being sucker-punched by it.
But this wasn't about him and his weary, eternal journey. He'd let his children down enough. For once, he would be there for them.
As he moved forward, he felt a powerful presence behind him.
Jaden turned, ready to battle. Yet to his utmost shock, it wasn't one of the revolting, shattered, and twisted souls that called this infernal realm home.
It was Kaziel.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm your reinforcement, like."
"Did they not trust me?"
Kaziel snorted at his question. "They were worried." And with that, he changed into his dire wolf form.
Much more touched than he wanted to admit, Jaden took a moment to savor the miracle that had sent the wolf to him. All he ever remembered was fighting against his children. Hurtful, bitter words that cut straight through the heart and seared their very souls.
He was as guilty of it as they were.
Whatever fool had penned the nonsense that words could do no harm should be condemned to Tophet's lowest fiery pit. For they did far more damage than mere broken bones that eventually healed.
Furious, hate-filled words spoken by a loved one left bleeding gashes that no amount of time or apology ever masked. The slightest frown or look could rip the scabs open and begin the bleeding anew as if no amount of time had passed at all from the initial injury.
Yet the most amazing thing about love was how willing you could be to let the very one who hurt you the most, who cut you deeper than anyone ever had, back into your life to do it again.
That blind, stupid trust was what he hated most.
For his sons, alone, he was willing to be the greatest fool ever spawned.
Even when they hated him.
I am pathetic slug.
Sighing, he headed for the cell most likely to
contain Noir's latest catch.
Kaziel veered off unexpectedly.
"What are you doing?" Jaden asked between clenched teeth.
He shot fire from his snout as he lifted it to sniff at the air.
Bemused, Jaden watched as the wolf turned around to sniff at several different corridors. "Kaziel?"
Aeron isn't here alone.
Those whispered words in his head gave him pause. "What do you mean? Are you talking about Zavid or Menyara?"
He shook his head.
Too late, Jaden realized who else was here ...
Gwrach y Rhibyn--the hag of the robin. Better known as Noir's alarm system. His number-one tattletale who lived to report everything to the old bastard.
Crap!
Tall and thin, she was a ghostlike wraith who functioned like an Irish bean-sidhe. Dressed in black rags, she had long, stringy red hair and dark eyes and lips. As with Kaziel, she had a tattoo in the center of her forehead, only hers was more of a dark, elongated star than the open sun symbol that marked his brow.
And just as she opened her mouth to let fly her banshee scream, Kaziel launched himself at her, transforming from wolf to man. He wrapped his arms around her and slapped his hand over her mouth to keep her from making that horrendous sound she was known for.
"Shh." He breathed calmly in her ear to hold her tight against his chest. "You let fly yours, love. I'll let fly mine and we'll both have bleeding ears. And I know you don't be wanting any of that, now do you?"
"Kaziel?" she whispered in her deep husky voice.
"Aye."
"What the bloody cythral are you doing here?"
"I've come to fetch Aeron. You're not going to be getting in me way now are you, boyo? I'd hate to be hurting you after what all we've been through together, like. But I won't be letting sentimentals stop me from protecting me penlord. You get me way, like, and I will be hurting you. Friendship be damned."
"Aeron here? Are you moithered or drunk?"
"Neither."
Jaden was having the hardest time following this bizarre exchange. Never mind the fact that their Welsh accents were thick, and they were technically speaking English, which up until now he would have sworn he was fluent in.
But ...
"You two know each other?"
And that got Rhibyn's attention on him, which turned out to be a bad, bad thing as she started for him like Cujo after fresh meat.
Kaziel picked her up and swung her about. "None of that. He be friendly, like."
"Now you're all coggy-headed, for sure! You're as addled as me da, after Cordelia's feast! Now put me down, you brute, or I'll take from your hide and be making meself new white, furry boots."