Nick attempted to teleport and couldn’t. His powers were weakened again. The other Malachai was draining him faster than he’d ever dreamed possible. No wonder his father had stayed in prison after his birth.
He totally understood Adarian’s demented reasoning now. It was probably the only way his father had been able to retain any power at all. In prison, Adarian could suck the evil straight out of the other inmates so that he’d be able to fight against the never-ending stream of enemies out to end or enslave him.
That was why he’d been so aggressive whenever Nick’s mother had brought him in to visit. Why he’d wanted to see Cherise alone.
Why his father had gone insane the only time they’d released him from jail during Nick’s childhood. Unable to stay away from his mother, his father had shown up at their door and attempted to live with them.
That had been a giant disaster.
Even now, Nick was scarred by it. Adarian had glared at him with so much hatred it’d left him forever suspicious of any stranger. The only people Nick trusted innately were his mother and Menyara.
Everyone else had to prove themselves.
Repeatedly.
Heck, sometimes even they did.
A small part of him was still suspicious of Kody and Caleb. Even Kyrian. He couldn’t help it. It was as innate as breathing.
And all from that one summer of his father stalking him like a spider in the dark. Of Nick waking up to find his father standing over him, Adarian’s breathing ragged and his hands held out as if he were one step away from strangling him. Nick had told his mother then that he’d seen his father’s eyes glowing red.
“Nicky! Boo! You’re imagining things. It’s all them games you play with your friends and the movies you watch. What have I told you about that? Stop sneaking up to see them! You’re too bright to believe in such nonsense.”
It wasn’t that. More, it came from the fact that his father whispered, “I hate you,” under his breath anytime Nick ventured too close. That his father had hated him for making him weak and for draining his powers.
Then the insanity had come. His father had gone on a killing spree, claiming there were demons after him.
Saddest part?
Adarian wasn’t lying or delusional. Those were real demons who’d been after his father, trying to end him. But normal humans didn’t believe in such things.
And the nondelusional part had been proven when a psychologist had deemed him sane enough to stand trial and be sentenced for consecutive life sentences for those murders. Because while humans refused to believe in the kinds of demons Nick fought, they did believe in the kind of demon they assumed his father had been for slaughtering “humans”.
Yeah, it was a messed up world.
Even then, Nick’s mom had shown compassion for the monster who’d been unleashed on an unsuspecting world, and hadn’t hated him over it. But, that was her nature. She was born from the truest light. A creature of such innocence that she couldn’t see the uglier side of humanity, no matter what was shown or unleashed on her.
Or apparently demons of any kind. Not even when they were right in front of her, and after she birthed one.
It was as impossible for her as for Nick to believe that Stone at school had a heart, or any semblance of decency. Instead, Nick always saw the evil in everyone around him. No matter how hard they tried to hide it. That was his “gift.”
“Are you afraid yet?”
Nick went ramrod still at the disembodied voice. “I fear nothing.” He never had.
“Good. That makes it more fun.”
Suddenly, he was grabbed from behind and yanked into darkness.
CHAPTER 6
“Rubati?”
At the sound of Monakribos’s voice, the warrior demon set aside the sword she was sharpening and stood to greet him. The fire was almost out now. Strange, but she’d lost all track of time while she’d been working on preparing her weapons for the upcoming inspection. Because Kree had put his reputation on the line to get her into the guard, the last thing she’d wanted was to embarrass him. So she’d been even more careful and studious about tending her weaponry and making sure to do nothing to cause him to regret his decision to back her.
She thought too much of him for that.
“In here, my lord.” She quickly smoothed her hair and straightened her burgundy leather uniform at the sound of his approaching footsteps on the black marble floor.
