Nick understood. “I don’t have to be a destroyer.”
Kody reached up to cup his face in her hands. “You choose your fate, Boo. Don’t let others turn you into something you’re not.”
Tears misted Xev’s eyes at those words. “She’s right. I allowed the hate of my parents to turn me into a tool for their nastiness. I did what I thought I’d been born for, until I met Myone. She gave me the freedom to be the creature I chose. To find my own way.”
Now, he’d finally found his.
“I’m the Malachai.”
“And you’re still Nick.”
How simple, really. Yet he’d been so busy trying to avoid his destiny that he’d never taken a moment to understand what he was running from.
I choose.
For better or worse.
“Do you think we can make Cyprian understand?”
If he could get his son to stop hating … To embrace his fate without the fury and baggage of their pasts …
Maybe they could save him.
“I don’t know.” Bubba glanced to Kody. “Sometimes people go too far and can’t come back from it.”
“We can try.” Kody smiled at him. “That’s all anyone can do.”
And that was why Nick loved her so much. That positivity that was so rare. It was easy to see the bad and to tear things down. It took someone special to see the good and to build someone up, regardless of what was going on in your own life.
Speak the truth. People suck. They’re not worth saving.
Nick hissed as he stepped back from them. “I missed one.” He started to blast it, then paused. “Get over here.” He did a perfectMortal Kombatmove and yanked the demon to him. “Do you know who I am?”
It blinked its clear eyes at him. A shadow, its twisted form made it appear like a crooked stick. “You’re the Malachai.”
“You know what I can do to you.”
It nodded.
“Then why did you come at me, dude? Seriously?”
“That’s what I do.”
“Maybe you ought to learn a new hobby, huh? Get out and party with some friends. Do something constructive.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
It was tempting. Really, really tempting … Okay, so the Malachai in him wasn’t completely tamed. It was salivating for a taste of stupid demon.
But Nick held it back. “You going to give me a reason to kill you?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Then you can live. Go do something good and stop being nasty.”
Nodding, the demon rushed from his so fast that it stumbled, pushed itself up, and ran off into the woods.
“What just happened?” Xev asked.
