Invision (27 page)

A raw, furious battle cry sounded.

Nick looked over his shoulder to see his enemy headed for them, dodging through the combatants around him, slaying any who dared to charge his path.

Knowing this was about to get bad, he landed and did the last thing he ever wanted to—he handed his precious burden off to another of his men. “Get her to safety. Do not let her die!”

Her hand lingered on his as if she hated to let him go as much as he regretted what was to come. As if she knew the future as clearly as he did.

But this had to be done.

With a deep breath, he forced himself to let go of the one thing he cherished most and turned back to fight, but it was too late.

His enemy was already on him. Before Nick could even raise his sword, the demon stabbed him straight through his worthless heart and drove him to the ground where he planted him with his sword pressed all the way through his body.

Choking on his own blood, Nick struggled as hard as he could to live—he had so much to live for … but there was nothing he could do except die.

And as his life faded from his body, he heard the scream that broke his heart. Why did she have to see this? Why had he allowed her to fight today?

With the courage that he'd loved since the day they first met, she ran to his side. “No!” she sobbed over and over again as she exposed his face. She lay her hand to his cheek and wept as if her entire world had been shattered.

“The vial,” he breathed. “I can't reach it.”

Sobbing, she pulled out the necklace Apollymi had sent for him and quickly helped him to drink. “Don't you dare leave me, Ambrose! Do you hear me? I won't lose you. I will go back and I will change this. Whatever the cost. I will find you and I will save you!”

He tried to touch her one last time. But the darkness he'd spent his whole life fighting claimed him first.

The moment he was dead, the woman holding him let loose the battle cry of a thousand Furies. She took his Malachai sword and ran at his enemy to finish what he'd started.

Their demon enemy raised his arm and caught her blow, then shot a blast at her that knocked her helmet free.

Dazed but undaunted, she jerked her head back to glare at him.

The sight jarred Nick this time. Before, it'd been Kody's face Nick had seen in his vision. But this face was different. Still beautiful, it was older and scarred.

He didn't know this woman, at all. Yet he recognized the hatred in her eyes that she bore for the demon before her. It was brutal and tangible.

And as Nick came out of his vision, he knew that this time, the demon Malachai was his son who'd killed him that day.

The first time he'd seen that vision, he'd thought it was him transposing his face over Kody's brother's.

Now …

He blinked and turned to face her. “I'm so confused.”

“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.”