Son of No One (29 page)

Happiness fled Namtar's face as he fingered a part of the disk. “This has been worn down. Will we not need it to find the item?”

“A few months to repair it. That's all. Then we will leave this hole and take back our dominion from Stryker and his Spathi crew. They will weep for the day they crossed us. And we will have
no
mercy for them.”

 

EPILOGUE

 

June 23, 2015
New Orleans

Cadegan stared down into the most precious face he'd ever beheld.

His son.

And he wasn't a tadpole. Or a demon. He was a perfect infant. Fully human in appearance.

Josette held him cradled to her bosom while he slept in total peace and security. Her cousin, Essie, who'd been their midwife for the birth, had withdrawn from the room a short time ago with the entire Flora-Landry-Devereaux clan that had been summoned the moment Josette went into labor.

They'd descended on their New Orleans condo like demon locusts to witness the event, and had forced Cadegan to put Simi on guard duty to keep them out of the bedroom until they knew for certain the baby wasn't a tadpole. Or something else that would terrify her family.

He'd even banned the Mórrígan, Leucious, Talon and Sunshine from the room until after the babe was with them. He'd wanted this to be a private affair between him and his wife. After all, the nipper had been conceived without an audience. It was only fitting he get used to his parents before he was forced to endure more strangers.

Josette was right. Cadegan was still an extreme recluse, but he'd gladly learned to share his solitude with her and their furry babies. And he looked forward to their newest addition.

Kissing her cheek, he sat down beside her on the bed.

She leaned against his chest. “So what shall we name him? I know we've argued for months now, but we have to decide for sure, ‘cause
hey you
will get him seriously mocked in school.”

He laughed at her words. “I'm still partial to Guorthigirn, meself.”

“Let us strive for something the poor boy can spell and pronounce before he reaches college, shall we?”

“Here, here,” Acheron said as he and Styxx joined them. “Take it from someone who's experienced that. I think I found the only woman in existence who doesn't mind spelling and repeating Parthenopaeus a thousand times for every person she talks to.”

Styxx laughed.

Cadegan rolled his eyes. “Happy birthday, by the way.”

“And to you and baby … name to be determined. Styxx and I consider it an honor to share our birthday with him.”

“That we do.”

Acheron and Styxx approached them slowly so that they could see the baby.

“He's beautiful,” Styxx said.

“Like an angel,” Acheron added.

Josette smiled at them. “Thank you.”

Simi trounced in behind them. “Can the Simi make a suggestion on the baby akri-boy name?”

Jo smiled at the demon who'd been pacing the floors, waiting to be a big sissy again. “Sure, Simi. What do you like for a name?”

“Drystan Eurig Maboddimun!”

Jo grinned. “I like that.” She looked at Cadegan. “What about you?”

“I could go with Drystan Eurig, for sure. But never Maboddimun. He is Drystan Eurig ap Cadegan a Josette. No one will ever doubt his parentage. He is
our
son. Proudly so.”

Jo rubbed her nose against her son's. “You will never fit all of that on a driver's license, little one.”

Acheron folded his arms over his chest. “Then how about Drystan Eurig Cadox? A Welsh shortening of Cadegan's son?”

She nodded. “I like it! I say we go for it.” She smiled at Cadegan. “What say you?”

“Aye, lass. But it doesn't seem quite fair to you as you did the hardest part of the birthing. And the saints know, you disavowed me and my skeptical parentage quite a bit as you struggled to birth him.”

Laughing, she kissed his cheek. “All forgiven now that we have little Drystan with us.”

“Yippee!” Simi jumped up and down and clapped her hands. “The Simi finally gots to name a baby demon! Now can I give him hornays?”

“Please don't,” Jo said with a laugh as she cupped the baby's head to protect it. “If you do that, the hats my mom crocheted for him won't fit.”

“Well, poo. That no fun.”

A knock sounded on the door.

Styxx opened it to show Thorn and Karma on the other side. “Mind more visitors?”

“Not at all,” Jo said. “Grand Central Station and them some. Come in, guys. Join the party!”

By the hesitant way they walked in, she knew it couldn't be good.

Cadegan slid from the bed. “What is it?”

Thorn ignored him as he moved to touch the baby's cheek. “Have you named him yet?”

“Drystan Eurig.”

The moment Thorn's hand touched his skin, the baby opened his dark blue eyes to stare up at him as if he recognized him as family.

Thorn smiled. “He's intelligent and beautiful. Hi, little Drystan. ‘Tis a pleasure to finally meet you.” He stepped back from the bed while Karma scooted in beside Jo so that she could hold him for a minute.

Turning to the men, Thorn moved away. “Am I the only one who finds it very odd that he was born on the Atlantean Day of Fire and shares the date with you two?”

Acheron met Styxx's gaze. “It'd … crossed our minds.”

“And you know what this year is?”

“Blood Moon,” Styxx whispered. “September 28. We're very much aware of the signs and the prophecy.”

Thorn lowered his voice. “Have any of you spoken to Savitar in the last two days?”

They each shook their heads.

Acheron frowned. “Why?”

“Because your friend, Kessar, has released the Scythian Guard from their slumber.”

Styxx and Acheron sucked their breath in sharply.

Cadegan scowled at Thorn. “What's the Scythian Guard?”

It was Acheron who answered. “A race of Drakaina—female dragons who were a sister tribe of the Amazons. They were so fierce, they almost brought down both the Sumerian and Greek pantheons. When they were finally defeated, Zeus had their survivors turned to stone.”

Thorn swallowed hard. “On the rise of the Blood Moon, they will be able to free their queen, Echidna.”

Cadegan could tell from their faces that she wasn't an easy adversary, but he'd never heard of her before. “Echidna?”

“The mother of all monsters,” Styxx breathed. “One of the fiercest of the Titans.” He laughed bitterly. “We are so screwed if we don't stop them.”

Acheron let out a tired breath. “It's the Rise of the Dragons, we've known this day would come. The Scythians were put down before. We'll do so again. Simple.”

Styxx snorted. “This is not simple, brother. Simple slaughter for us, maybe. But not a simple fix for them.”

“The Simi gots her barbecue sauce and a whole passel of Brother Xeddy's Charonte. Will that help?”

Styxx arched his brow as he turned back toward Acheron. “Have the Charonte ever fought dragons?”

Acheron nodded. “And had their wings handed to them.” He pulled Simi against him. “This is one enemy, Sim, you can't win against. They have all the powers you do and many you don't.”

Her mouth formed a small O. “Then what do we do, akri?”

“What we always do. We stand and we fight for our families.”

Cadegan looked past them to where Jo and Karma sat with his son.

Family. The one thing he'd never thought to have. But now having found it, he wasn't about to let it go. Not without a brutal fight. And brutal fighting was what he knew best.

Let the evil unleash their dragons all they wanted. They were in for one hell of a battle.

“Hey, guys?” Jo called from the bed. “Don't look so stern and serious. C'mon, you remember when we all died in 2012? And the world came to an end in 1999?”

Cadegan scowled at her. “I missed the end of the world?”

“And all the chaos that went with it.” She wrinkled her nose playfully. “We'll get through this. One shiny, scary Apocalypse at a time. After all, that's what life is. Seldom do we get to ride the merry-go-round. More often than not, we're thrown on the back of the bull right as they open the gate. All you can do, is take a deep breath, close your eyes and hold on with both hands. Either you'll tame the beast or it'll break you. But it'll only break you if you let it.”

Cadegan returned to her side as Karma left the bed to make room for him. “She's right. Besides, she's already done the impossible. If she gave me back my soul, what's a few Drakaina?”

“Few dozen,” Thorn said under his breath as Karma moved to stand by his side. “But who's counting?” Yet for the first time since he entered the room, he smiled at Karma. “We will get through this. After all, we have the only thing that's worth fighting for.”

“Barbecue?” Simi asked.

Cadegan shook his head. “Family, Simi. It's what we put ourselves to the hazard for. And to me precious Josette and Drystan, I gladly pledge myself against any challenge.” He glanced to the others. “I'm not forgetting the extended family. We will survive.”

“No,” Styxx said earnestly. “We will thrive, and in spite of our enemies, we will treasure what we love and be happy for the ones we have. For as long as we have them.”

Jo took Cadegan's hand in hers and smiled up at him. “Here, here. As Tabby so often says, get thee behind me, bitches. Or I'm going Cajun on you. And if you think medieval is bad … just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet.”

 

Son of No One

BONUS SCENE

“
You
bastard!”

Entering his war tent, Thorn froze as he heard Brigid's furious tone. It was nothing compared to the slap she delivered to him as soon as she closed the distance between them.

The demon in him rose up, demanding her blood for the assault. But he stamped it down, for one reason only.

He deserved it.

Her dark eyes flashed as she glared at him with the fury of her entire pantheon. Her breathing ragged, she struggled to control herself.

He licked at the blood on his lips from her blow. “I take it that you're upset with me, love?”

“Don't
you
even,” she snarled in warning as she walked a circle around him, dragging her heavy brocade skirts in her tightly clenched fists.

Thorn arched a brow, still stunned that she was in his tent in the middle of the war that was raging outside. More than that … “I thought you swore that you'd never breathe the same air as I again.” That was the polite version of her words, at any rate.

Two months ago, after she'd found out who and what he really was, she'd broken his heart, kicked him from her bed, and banished him from the only happiness he'd ever really known.

“I'm pregnant!”

Thorn felt the color drain from his face as those words hit him even hard than her hand. “What?”

“You heard me well enough!”

For one incredibly stupid heartbeat, he almost asked who the father was, but her fury answered that well enough. It was his issue, she carried. Joy tore through him at the prospect. Never once had he considered the possibility of fatherhood.

But that happiness was cut short the moment she spoke again. “You did this on purpose! What? Do you plan to offer him to your father as a gift?”

He gaped at her insinuation. “You don't honestly believe that, do you?”

“You're a demon! What else am I to believe? The whole reason you slept with me was to get to my father's shield.”

Wholly untrue, but they'd already had this argument. She refused to see him as anything more than his grandfather's tool. And that was not why he'd seduced her.

There for a time, in her precious arms, he'd almost been normal.

He wiped at his swelling lips. “It wasn't the whole reason. You are quite stunning when you're not slapping me.”

She glared at him.

Thorn braced himself as he considered the implication of what they'd done. “So what are you planning to do with the baby?”

“I wanted it ripped from my womb the moment I learned of it, but I've been told that it would kill me in the process. With it being of demonkyn blood, I have to deliver it.”

Those words bit him to the core of his soul. Just once, he'd give anything to be something more than the despised progeny of his father. “He'll only be a quarter demon.”

“One drop is as good as total.”

He winced. Of course it was. He should know that by now. “Then give him to me. I'll raise him.”

Her eyes flared with angry passion. “I'd sooner cut his throat the moment he's born.”

“Then you are planning to keep him?”

She shook her head. “I'm planning to put him where
you'll
never find him. Hopefully, he'll be mortal and will die quickly after his birth. If not … I'll take care of it.”

He glared at her. “That is your son you're speaking of!”

“What would you have me do? Suckle it on the milk of a goddess? To what purpose? To strengthen it?”

“Brigid…” He moved to touch her.

She quickly stepped away and raked him with a bitter hatred that scalded his tongue. “Never touch me again. Go to your grandfather and tell him you have failed. Neither of you will ever take possession of this child.”

And with that, she was gone.

*   *   *

Brigid returned to
her chambers as her fear and loathing warred with the love she felt for both the demon who'd seduced her and the child he'd given her.

How could she have been so foolish? But then that was Thorn's greatest power. The ability to deceive and to make enemies trust when they shouldn't.

Aye, he was a dodgy bastard. And she'd been so lonely these years since her husband had been slain, and Tuireann had grieved himself to death over losing his sons. Her own grief had made her weak. And she'd longed for comfort and companionship.