Bane took it in stride and returned with a counter. “The same could be said for you and your friends.”

Maybe.

Well, then again, whenever Bubba and Mark got together, it did tend to go nuclear. As much as he hated admitting it, Pestilence had a point.

Thorn returned to wearing his posh navy suit. “So Bane, why are you here?”

“Same reason everyone will be converging on you soon, and it’s not for your gory hospitality. The Malachai is back in Azmodea. People tend to notice.”

Thorn welcomed that news as much as Nick did. “We’ve got to shield him.”

Bane snorted. “Good luck with that.”

Thorn crossed his arms over his chest. “No, not luck, Bane. We’re going to shield him.”

Bane shook his head in denial. “That’s not my agenda.”

“Is today, buddy,” Thorn said with a wry grin, “unless you’re tired of breathing. I do know a few people who’d be willing to replace you on the cosmic food chain.”

Bane let out a long suffering sigh. “I don’t understand you. Why are you fighting for the worms?”

Thorn shrugged. “Because some of us believe in doing the right thing even when we shouldn’t. And you’re going to do the right thing where Nick is concerned because I have your number, and I’m not afraid to dial it.”

Bane’s eyes glowed a wicked, fluorescent green. “I hate you, Thorn.”

“Feeling’s mutual, Bane. Now, man the perimeter and shield the Malachai.”

Grumbling, Bane stepped over the still smoldering remains of the demon. “You owe me, Leucious.”

“Pestilence, Pestilence, Pestilence … I’ve already paid you back. You’re walking out my door. And in one piece, no less. Will my mercy ever have limitations?”

Flipping him off over his shoulder, Bane left them.

Thorn sobered the minute he was gone, and turned to face Nick. “You want to know what I am, Nick? I’m a creature like you. Conceived for only one purpose—to be a tool for evil.”

Yeah, okay … No news to him there. Thorn didn’t exactly hide that fact. Rather he embraced his role with both arms and a mighty hug. “Isn’t that what you are?”

Thorn laughed. “I can see why you’d think that. But no. I am my own man. No one tells me who I am or how to behave. Who to kill and when. Or how. I define myself. Not my birthright or supposed written destiny. Definitely not my biological donors. I, alone, control me.”

Strange as it was, Nick took comfort in those words. “So I don’t have to become the Malachai?”

“No. That’s not what I’m saying. You are the Malachai. Just as you’re part human. Nothing will ever change that. But, you don’t have to let that birthright consume or define you. It’s hard to fight against your nature. Like an addiction, only this one is genetic and hardwired into your DNA. That impulse to harm rides you with spurs. Eats you alive. But you can’t let it win. You have to remember that the evil part serves you as much as the good part does. There’s a time for peace and a time for war, and sometimes you have to embrace them both. Most of all, you have to control them.”

“Can you teach me?”

Thorn shook his head. “Only you can walk in your shoes, my friend. And I’m certainly not the voice in your head you want to listen to. I literally have destroyed everything I ever loved, either on purpose or by total accident. Believe me when I say that second chances are even more rare than finding true love. If you ever get one, don’t squander it, kid.”

Those words haunted him. “You know about Ambrose?”

Thorn’s eyes glowed the same bright green that Bane’s had done. “Have you ever heard the term ‘Metaverse’?”

“Yeah, contrary to my mother’s most highly held belief, I really do things other than play video games and text my friends. I know about alternate universes.”

Thorn inclined his head to him. There was a note of respect in his eyes. “Then you know that simultaneously, every outcome of everyone’s life is constantly in motion. One in each of the universes. Nicks infinitas. And yet, here we are in this life.”

Yeah, but one thing he’d never been able to figure out … “How do we know that this is the right existence? How do I know one of the other universes isn’t the one I should be living in?”

Thorn gave a low laugh. “How do we, indeed? That is the question. Who’s to say if this is the right life or not? And while I have an answer, you don’t need it, other than for me to mention that this is the only version of you and Ambrose that you know. In order to save you, Ambrose has bent the fabric that none of us are allowed to touch. He has breached this existence and is trying to gain access to the outcome that was achieved in an alternate universe and by another Nick, and make it happen here. The problem with that is—”

“You can’t have the same outcome in two different dimensions.”

“Exactly. Each one must play out as a different dance. In quantum mechanics, it’s termed the uncertainty Principle, which says that the more you know about the position of one matter, the less you can control, determine, or know about the momentum of the other. When Ambrose came back and began interfering with the timeline of this universe, he created a buckle or bridge between the planes of existence. Things are now coming into this universe that weren’t here before. Things he can neither control, nor see the potential problems it’ll cause you both down the road. You see what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, by trying to help me, Ambrose screwed us over big time.”

Thorn gave him a sarcastic salute. “That’s a little harsh, but true. Now no one can predict what will happen to you. How this newest twist will unravel. But one thing you can bank on, you are the grand prize in a bloody contest. Whoever can bring you in to Noir will dominate this world and be rewarded greatly. Nick, my boy, to the preternatural creatures of this universe, you’re infamous, and there’s a bounty on your head that’s staggering. Hell, you’re lucky I’m not turning you in.”

The way Thorn said that, it made Nick wonder if one day Thorn might not change his mind and hand him over.

* * *

Kody stood up as Dr. Burdette came out with Nick’s attending physician to speak to his mother.

Her eyes swimming in tears, Cherise went over to them. Kody followed with Caleb until they stood behind her and Menyara. The others stayed back, giving Cherise room.

“Will he live?” Cherise’s voice shook.

Dr. Burdette pulled her into a tight hug. “Sugar? Didn’t I tell you we weren’t going to let that baby die? We have him stabilized and he’s resting.”

Cherise’s blue eyes widened. “That sounds like there’s a ‘but’ in there.”

It was the male doctor who answered. “There is. He’s in a coma and we’re not sure why.”

Frowning, Cherise reached out for the support of Menyara before turning her attention back to the doctor. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

The doctor sighed. “He has no reason to be in a coma. His injuries weren’t that extreme. Don’t get me wrong, they are bad, but not life-threatening. Not to mention there’s a lot of brain activity going on that we can’t explain. It’s like he’s not really in a coma … that on some level he’s highly alert, but nothing we do can revive him.… I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Kody exchanged a nervous glance with Caleb. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she whispered.

“Yeah. Nick’s somewhere he doesn’t need to be.”

“If it’s where I’m thinking, I can’t go.”

Caleb growled low in his throat. “Yeah, that would wreck my sucky day even worse than what I’m about to go do.” He winked at her before he headed out the door.

Dr. Burdette squeezed Cherise tight. “I can’t imagine he won’t come out of it in a day or two, honey. He will be fine, Cherise. You’ll see.”

Cherise drew a ragged breath. “I have told him so many times not to fight. Why couldn’t he, for once, just listen to me and do what I say? Why didn’t he give over his wallet and—”

“He didn’t fight his attacker,” Kody interjected, wanting to protect Nick any way she could.

Even from his own mother.

Cherise frowned at her. “What?”

“That was the only thing he’d say until he passed out. He wanted me to make sure you understood that he’d done what you asked and hadn’t fought back when he was attacked.”

“She’s right,” the doctor concurred. “All of his wounds were defensive, and not a single mark on him says he fought back in any way. From the looks of his injuries, I’d say he was on the ground in a fetal position, covering his head with his arms the entire time he was being beaten.”

Cherise sobbed even harder. “So I’m the one who got him hurt like this.…” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Oh God, what have I done?”

Kody rubbed her back. “He just wants to please you, Mrs. Gautier. He’d eat broken glass for breakfast if you asked him to.”

But the self-loathing and torment in her blue eyes said that she wasn’t going to forgive herself anytime soon. “Can I see him?” she asked his doctor.

“Sure.” Dr. Burdette led her to the back while Kody closed her eyes and tried to sense Caleb’s location. He was completely gone from this plane of existence.

If he had descended into the Nether Realm to find Nick, it wouldn’t be fun for him. Unlike her, he’d known the horrors of that place firsthand. What little she knew about it had come from others.

You’re too close to the Malachai, Nekoda. You’re losing your objectivity.

She knew that deep masculine voice inside her head. It came from Sraosha. His title was her guardian, but in truth, he was more like a warden who reported her every move to their superiors. I’ve lost nothing.

He grumbled, but didn’t speak again. She knew what he and the others thought of her. That she should kill Nick and move on to the next Malachai.

But her brother had promised her that within the balance that had allowed one of the Sephirii to turn against his own and bring them down, the Malachai could do the same. A Malachai would be born with equal balanced parts inside him—just like Jared had been, and that that one special beast could be turned to their side and used against Noir and his sisters.

Nick was the only one, in all these centuries, who’d been born with that unique criteria. And there would never be another. He was their one and only hope.

If she and Caleb could turn him, they could stop Noir. Without his Malachai, he would be controllable.

Forever.

However, Sraosha and the others were correct. If they failed to kill Nick before he came into all of his powers, because of that mixed blood he would be the only Malachai who could destroy all of them. He would truly be invincible.

And they would all be dead or imprisoned.

We are not assassins, she reminded Sraosha in her head. Especially not of children.

He’s not a child, Belam. You know that. He is the deadliest creature ever born. For now he’s weak, but every day, he grows stronger. Deadlier. Meanwhile, you’re growing weaker where he’s concerned.

I’m not weak. She had never been weak. Don’t mistake my mercy for weakness. I assure you, if I know he is lost to us, I will cut his throat myself and deliver his heart to all of you. Because if she didn’t, he would destroy everyone she loved.

The only problem was, he was fast becoming one of the people she loved most.

You will do your duty. Sraosha pulled back from her.

Yes, she would do her duty, and she would keep her promise to her brother.

Even if it killed her.

And especially if it meant killing Nick.

CHAPTER 9

In his raven form, Caleb drew up short as he found Nick in the last place he’d expected.

Under Thorn’s protection in the center of hell. Or more pointedly, in Thorn’s office, learning how to sword fight …

The bright summer sun is shining in the darkest corner of Tartarus. That, and snow in August in New Orleans would be more likely than the sight below him as he used his powers to see inside the massive black mansion. Thorn hated everyone. No, not hated. That was too kind a word for the utter contempt and disdain he held for every living and undead creature in existence. His hatred was so intense it practically oozed out of his molecules.

Centuries ago, the two of them had been friendly. At least as friendly as anyone could be with something like Thorn who only trusted others to screw him over. Ironically, that was what had bonded them together—their mutual disdain and mistrust for everyone else in existence.