Nick carried the bin to the back pew where Savitar and Kody were huddled in the shadows. “Kody? Do you have a knife on you?”
She pulled one out of her pocket and handed it to him.
Without comment, Nick rolled his sleeve back and cut his forearm.
Screwing his face up, Savitar hissed as Nick allowed his blood to drip into the bin. “You act like you’ve done this before.”
“Not quite, but I did assist an exorcist once. We took blood from my hand for that and it made it hard to grip or make a fist. I’d rather my arm throb than my hand be rendered useless for the fighting I’m sure we’re going to have to do to get out of this.”
As soon as Nick was finished, Kody wrapped a cotton towel around his cut and used her powers to stop it from bleeding.
With his hand, Nick mixed the water and blood then poured it into the thurible and aspergillum. As soon as the mixture touched the holy objects, there was a subtle hissing.
Snorting, Nick looked at them. “Should I be offended at the sound it’s making?”
Savitar shrugged. “Well, you were born of the darkest powers.”
“But he’s also born of innocence and good.”
Nick smiled at Kody’s rapid defense of him. She never allowed anyone to insult him or put him down in any way.
Not even himself.
Still, he hated how he’d been conceived. The misery he’d caused his real mother because she dared to keep him when any sane woman would have given him up for adoption and walked away without ever looking back. She deserved to be like the Cherise in this world. Treasured and loved.
Rich and affluent.
Instead, she’d been saddled with him, and to her credit, she’d never once made him feel like the worthless burden he was.
I love you, Mom.
Nick glanced to Kody. “My mother’s heart and my father’s curse.… God forgive me,” he whispered before he handed Kody the aspergillum and headed for the doors to the outside.
Worried about Nick, Kody picked up the bin and carried it after him while Savitar followed her. She held her breath, hoping this actually worked.
As soon as Nick was on the curb that was off holy ground, the demons came for him. Like a fearless gladiator, he waited until they were closer before he slung the thurible up and bathed them with the mixed water.
Kody bit her lip, waiting for them to explode.
They didn’t. In fact, it had no effect on them at all.
Her stomach shrank painfully as she realized why. “Nick! Your blood isn’t the Malachai’s. It’s the other Nick’s blood. You’re human here.”
“Then why did it hiss?” He looked up at the demons and had the same “oh crap” expression she was sure was on her face. “Ever have that feeling that you’re a complete and utter nimrod? Yeah, I’m there right now.… It was a good idea. Just a real bad execution.”
“Nick!” she screamed as the demons dive-bombed him. He ran toward her as fast as he could. She opened fire on the demons with every fire blast she could manage.
Savitar joined her, but the demons were all over Nick, dragging him away from them.
“Get Kody to safety!” Nick shouted as he punched and fought against the winged demons.
They both ignored him and rushed forward.
It was too late. Before they could take more than a handful of steps, demons picked him up and carried him off.
Disbelief speared her as the demons vanished with Nick and the sky above cleared up. The sun returned to shining as if the worst thing imaginable hadn’t just happened.
The Malachai’s soul was in the hands of his enemies and he was powerless against them.
CHAPTER 9
“Kody!”
Dazed, she heard Savitar’s fierce shout, but all she could do was blink as memories ripped through her and shredded every last piece of her sanity. Over and over, she saw her family die. Felt the stabbing agony of losing what she loved most.
Of watching her world torn apart while she was powerless to stop it.
No longer in New Orleans, she saw herself standing in front of Sraosha, Suriyel, and Adidiron after she’d died. Their spartan office had been bright and austere. Clinical.
As were they.
Like his brethren, Adidiron was dressed in his ancient bronze armor. Golden fair, he’d been so beautiful that it was hard to look upon him at all. “Will you serve us?” he’d asked her.
Their request to join their league and fight against the Malachai had floored her. “Why would you want me? I failed.”
His hands folded in front of him while his wings were spanned out, Suriyel had stepped forward. Unlike Sraosha and Adidiron, he had short dark hair and vibrant gold eyes. His skin was a deep caramel that was almost the same color as her mother’s. “You are the only one who has ever forced him into retreat. For three years, you managed to hold him back. And you’re just a child. In all these centuries, with all the Malachai, no other general ever managed that.”
“But I failed,” she repeated.
“No,” Sraosha contradicted. “Your anger betrayed you. Had it stayed in check, you would have succeeded.”
Maybe. She wasn’t as sure about that as they were. All she remembered was the hatred blazing in bloodred eyes as the Malachai delivered blow after blow to her. He’d been relentless and huge. Nothing had daunted him. It was as if the rage inside him was so great that nothing could quell or lessen it.
Honestly, she didn’t know if she was up to a rematch with that monster.
Suriyel placed a kind hand on her shoulder. “You’re the only hope we have. We can send you back to the first Malachai. Kill him and reset the time sequence. Let the world know what it’s like to exist without such evil in it.”
She’d frowned at his request. “What about the balance?”
With a heavy sigh, Sraosha had folded his arms over his chest. “Another will rise, but whoever it is, they won’t be as powerful an enemy. We will be able to keep them in check.”
Still, she didn’t want to go back. Even though she’d barely lived nineteen years, she felt ancient. She was so tired of fighting. Tired of watching people around her die and not being able to save them. “I don’t know.…”
Adidiron had spread his hand toward the windows that looked out onto a clear sky. They darkened to show her the world she’d just left. Human survivors screamed out for help and death as the Malachai’s army dragged them into chains to serve them.
But the worst was her aunt Artemis—the Greek goddess of the hunt who had once ridden Kody through the skies in her golden chariot. For centuries, Artemis had been Nick’s sanctuary. Had sheltered and protected him.
Now, he kept her caged like an animal. Bruises and bleeding welts marred her beautiful features as she wept in hopeless despair. Just as he’d done with her uncle and father, the Malachai had stripped all of Artemis’s powers and left her to suffer at the hands of his army.
That was harsh, but harsher still was the fate of Kody’s cousins and the once proud goddess Apollymi. Their cries for death shredded her, heart and soul.
“Stop!” she’d screamed as she turned away from the horrors she couldn’t stand to see.
But Suriyel had refused to take mercy on her. “They are immortal. The Malachai intends to keep them like that. Forever. Is that what you want?”
No. What she wanted was to go back before all this started and have her family alive and safe. To see Urian and Ari teasing her while she played with their children. To feel her father’s arms wrapped around her while her mother sang to them. To eat barbecue-drenched ice cream with Simi.…
Sraosha narrowed those eerie green eyes on her. “The balance hasn’t been broken. It’s been shattered. Think you that animal cares that he has destroyed everything good in this world? That he has left us with nothing? Left you with no one?”