Invision (16 page)

“Uh … over there.” He pointed toward them.

“Why?”

Xev almost grinned. “Our latest Malachai isn't quite as competent as his predecessors.”

Jaden went completely still. “He's the Malachai?”

Nick nodded. “I had much the same reaction, only with a bit more screaming.” He paused as he remembered the day Ambrose had told him his destiny. “And a lot more cursing and denial.”

Aghast, Jaden glanced from Caleb to Xev. “That idiot killed Adarian?”

Caleb laughed, then choked and groaned in agony of his wounds. “Yeah, he did. Don't underestimate him. He kicked Grim's butt, too.”

“And Noir's,” Xev added.

“
Him?
”

Nick pouted at the insulting tone. “Wow. My ego is taking one serious butt-whipping today. Anyone else want to pile on, and I don't mean the hell-monkeys outside?”

Kody returned with the stones Jaden had requested already crushed inside a granite mortar. “And before you say anything more against our Malachai … you should know, Jared's his grandfather.”

Jaden would have dropped the mortar had Kody not caught it from his slackened grip.

Time hung still. It honestly felt as if something had sucked the air from the room as Jaden stared at him with those eerie bicolored eyes.

“How is that possible?”

Xev sighed. “Cam orchestrated it. He's the Malachai of prophecy. Born of light and darkness. The most powerful one ever.”

“Standing here with no pants on.” Nick grinned and winked at him, then clicked his tongue and pointed with both index fingers at the ancient being.

Jaden wasn't charmed …

Or amused.

“Okay … I'm going to put my pants back on now.” Nick cleared his throat and headed toward them.

“Un … believable.” Jaden took the mortar from Kody's hands and returned to treating Caleb while Nick carefully picked his pants up, making sure to slide the amulet out of the pocket without touching it.

Well, the good news was that lack of belief had saved Nick's neck more than once. So while Jaden's reaction didn't help his ego, it did serve to spare his life. He'd take it.

Kody came over to brush his hair back from his face. “You okay?”

“Sure,
cher
. I know what I am. His rejection don't bother me none. There's only a handful of people whose opinions matter where I'm concerned. And I don't give him permission or power to hurt me.”

Smiling, she pulled him into her arms. “Love you,” she whispered.

“Moi, aussi.
” Nick fisted his hand in her hair and ground his teeth at the realization that she was one of the handful of people who could completely destroy him. While he honestly didn't care what Jaden or his enemies thought, he did care about Kody.

And in the back of his mind was the image of the day he killed her. It haunted him constantly now.

Even with his eyes open. It forever played like a game day slow-mo clip.

From across the room, he met Jaden's gaze as the ancient god watched them curiously. He didn't speak while he worked on Caleb.

And Xev … he had turned away to give them privacy.

He always did. Nick didn't need his powers to know why. Xev still mumbled Myone's name in his sleep. Half the time, he woke up whispering it under his breath as he reached for her in the bed only to curse once he realized he was no longer in the past, and that she was gone.

His heart broken for him, Nick stepped away from Kody and took her hand to lead her closer to Jaden and Caleb.

Once Jaden had Caleb's wound packed, he stared down at him. “I can't believe that wound didn't kill you.”

“Yeah, especially since you dragged your feet tending it.”

Jaden rolled his eyes. “Same Malphas. Ever cantankerous.” He moved away from him. “Since you were maintaining your human form, I knew you weren't overly dire.” He manifested a cloth and wiped his hands off. “You could thank me, you know?”

“For what? Being a father for once in my extremely long life? Well then, thank you.” Yeah, there was no sarcasm in those words at all.

Ignoring it, Jaden scowled at the mess around them, and the sounds of the demons still trying to break in. “What exactly is going on here, anyway? Where's Cam?”

“Missing,” Xev and Kody said simultaneously.

“Again?”

Caleb sat up with a grimace. “We don't know what's going on. Hence why Rainbow Pony over there decided to call you in against my better sense.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Xev glared at his brother. “Go ahead and insult me, but we need information. The one thing I know about the other side … they're a chatty bunch, especially my mother.”

Jaden nodded. “He's right about that. Discretion's not her valor. But in terms of this … I know nothing.
This
, they haven't talked about.”

Irritated, Nick growled low in his throat. “Well something isn't right. I've lost my powers. I can't use the Eye. My generals are missing. We got hell-monkeys at the door and mortents disguised as Aunt Mennie, who's now missing, too.”

“Aunt Mennie?”

“Cam,” Xev said. “His generals are Dagon and Aeron.”

Jaden gaped at Nick. “Why would you pick them for your generals? Have you lost your mind?”

“Up until they vanished, it was working.”

Jaden pressed his hands to his head as if he was developing a migraine.

Or a brain tumor …

Strangely, it was the same look Kyrian got whenever he had to deal with too much Nick logic. Bubba, too, for that matter. Well, at least he had one superpower that was still working. He could frustrate full-grown adults past rational speech without even trying.

Bully that.

Nick grinned at him. “And lest I forget, there's still the matter of my missing Aamon demon named Zavid.”

“That one, I know.”

They all turned to Jaden.

“Pardon?” Nick stepped forward. “You've seen him?”

“Noir has him.”

Kody placed a comforting hand on Nick's shoulder. “So it's true. He isn't dead.”

“Well … he is dead. But Noir took custody of his soul. Poor bastard.”

Xev cursed. “You just had to add that last bit, didn't you? You couldn't leave well enough alone.” He made a sound of supreme disgust.

“What?” Jaden asked innocently. “What did I do?”

Caleb joined his brother in making the noises of IBS. “Isn't it enough I've been poisoned and almost killed? Gah! I don't need the Eye to see this next act of blatant stupidity that Nick's about to hurl at us.”

The two brothers gave Nick an identical droll stare of utter contempt and irritation.

“Well, don't give me that look. Obviously, you know me well enough to know what I'm going to say and do. So it's not going to be any surprise to either of you.”

Caleb hooked his thumb at Xev. “
He
can't go. His blood is what's holding them down there. If he steps foot into Azmodea, it'll blow those seals wide open and set them free. And if you go, little Malachai, they'll never let you out. You are their power source. Daddy Dearest Hernia, tell him.”

Jaden nodded. “He's right. You don't want to know what they did to Adarian. There's a reason he was psychotic. Even I felt bad for him, and pity doesn't come naturally to me.”

Xev snorted. “The poster child for
I Need Serious Parenting Classes
isn't lying about that.”

“Yeah, Nick. And it's not hard to know why.” Caleb jerked his chin toward his father. “You met his parents during our last fun-filled Disney adventure.”

Nick scowled. “I did?”

Kody leaned in to explain what they were hedging around. “Tiamet and Chronus.”

His jaw went slack at the reminder of two of the scariest things they'd been up against in a while. And with Tiamet as a mother, it explained a lot about Jaden.

About everything.

He didn't know who to feel worse for—Jaden or his sons.

“Those were your parents?”

“She birthed all the original monsters,” Xev muttered as he cut a pointed and meaningful glare toward Jaden.

Jaden arched his brow at the less than subtle innuendo. “Pardon?”

“Oh…” Xev blinked innocently and spoke with utter sarcasm. “Did I say that out loud?”

Jaden narrowed an evil glare on him. “Yeah, you did, and need I remind you that she didn't birth the Malachai?”

“Oh, pardon. There's one she didn't birth. How forgetful of me. Must be all the centuries I spent in hell being tortured. Tends to take a toll on one's memory.” Xev rolled his eyes.

“What's that supposed to mean? Need I remind you of where
I've
been? Where your brothers are … because of
you
?” Jaden snarled.

“I had
nothing
to do with that!”

“Yeah, sure you didn't!”

“I didn't betray my own army!”

While they continued to argue and Caleb blatantly ignored them, Nick's mind spun with what they'd just inadvertently disclosed.

“Hold on! Wait with the family squabbling for a sec.” He scratched at his head as he ran through what they'd said.

Yeah …
that
was what they'd said.

He met Jaden's freaky gaze. “Your father is Chronus, right? That's what you said. As in the god of time?”

“What of it?”

“Is there any way you can get me into the future to talk to Ambrose?”

Kody turned pale. “Nick, that's a profoundly
bad
idea.”

Caleb sat up. “She's right. No one should know too much about their future and you already know way too much about yours. It's why it keeps getting screwed up.”

“True, but I need to ask him one more thing. Please?” Nick turned his puppy eyes to Kody. “You said you could help me barter with Jaden to get what I needed, right?”

“I didn't mean
this
.”

Xev shook his head. “Listen to them, kid. Don't do it.”

“Maybe. But all of you, except Jaden, know how stubborn I am. You really think you can stop me?”

Caleb lay back down with a groan. “You know you can't stop King Stupid from blatant acts of supreme idiocy. Believe me, I've tried everything. He wears you down with it and always wins. I've learned just to go with it and save my strength for battling whatever nightmare is unleashed by his failure to listen to good advice.”

Nick cleared his throat. “You know, Caleb, I am standing right here.”

“Yeah, and I'm laying right here,
bleeding
from the last time you didn't listen to me.”

While he might have a valid point, Nick refused to concede—which was exactly what Caleb was arguing. But he was too old to change his ways now.

Besides, this was the best shot they had.

“Look, Ambrose hasn't failed us. He's been honest from the beginning.” At least for the most part and they didn't need to know about the few lies he'd told himself.

“You said yourself that he was slipping,” Kody reminded him.

“True, but we could go back before Ambrose goes nuts and kills everyone. Right?”

Jaden hesitated before he answered. “That's one unstable theory.”

And still the only thing they had to go on. Nick glanced around at them and at the destruction that told them nothing about whatever power or entity they were up against. “Fine, I'll go alone. Risk only me. The rest of you can stay here until I return.”

“No!” they all shouted at once.

Jaden cast his gaze around at them. “Take it you've all had a bad experience?”

“You don't want to know,” Caleb said bitterly. “He's the only one I know who could find trouble waiting for him at the bottom of a Rice Krispies box.”

Nick would be offended if it wasn't true.

Xev stepped forward. “I'll go with him. I'm the least likely to screw something up.”

The look on Kody's face said she wanted to argue, but after a few minutes, she relented. With an irritated glare, she turned toward Nick. “Are you set on this?”

Nick nodded. “I have to see it through.”

She glanced at Jaden. “Can they get back here?”

“Returning's not the issue. They just have to make sure not to bring anything back with them.”

Nick held his hands up. “Not a problem.”

“See that it isn't.” With that warning spoken, Jaden let out a long, tired breath. “We'll work on the dramonks outside. I trust you know how to return?” he asked Xev.

Xev nodded. “So long as my curse doesn't prohibit it.”

For the first time, Nick saw guilt in Jaden's eyes. “Let me see your arm.”

With an emotionless stare, Xev loosened his sleeve and rolled it back to expose the ancient words that bound him to eternal slavery, and limited his powers.

Jaden examined it for several seconds. “Now your side.”

Xev hesitated as his gaze went to Kody.

“I won't look.” She turned around to give him privacy.

Still, there was shame in his hazel eyes as he dropped his gaze to the floor and lifted his shirt for Jaden to see where the rest of the curse had been brutally seared into his flesh on the day they'd ripped his wings from his back and condemned him to this existence. His muscles were absolutely taut from the rigidness of his stance.

Nick wanted to comfort him, but how could anything do that? He'd lost his wife, his son. His wings. His freedom. All he'd done was try to help and they'd coldly taken everything from him for the effort.

Yet in that moment, Nick understood why Jaden didn't trust him.

He saw Xev as a young teenager. Probably no more than sixteen or seventeen—his age.

While Jaden had slept, Xev had crept into his room and swapped amulets on him. Not the green one he currently wore, but another that had drained his powers and left him at the mercy of Xev's mother and her demon horde.