She hadn’t even put up a fight about it. She’d just kicked him out of her life as if he was nothing but an unwanted nuisance.
Caleb snapped his fingers in his face. “Nick! Stop!”
He glared at the demon. “Stop what?”
“I can tell by the fire in your eyes what you’re thinking. Kody loves you. More than you understand. What she did, she did for you and you alone. Had you not left, Thorn would have returned and enslaved you, and the others would have killed you. Don’t you dare let that Malachai hate build up inside you and take away from her selfless act. I was there after you left. I saw her break down and weep like you can’t imagine. And now she’s trapped there, completely alone. With no one at all. So don’t you dare hate her for what she did to save you.”
Even so, it was hard. The Malachai wanted to hate, and keeping that at bay was a constant struggle for him. Hatred was quickly becoming his go-to happy place.
But the thought of Kody in tears … that hit him hard. He couldn’t stand the thought of her in pain. Especially not because of him. “I have to go back for her.”
Caleb shook his head. “Without the Magus Stone, you can’t. And right now, the most important thing is to reunite you and your body and put down your army before they get together and party. Not to mention, we don’t know what your spirit will do here in this realm if it’s not grounded in your body, and with the two of you existing in the same time and space … that’s never supposed to happen. And I don’t know the full ramifications if you exist together for long. So let’s take care of one catastrophe at a time. Okay?”
A human scream sounded from upstairs.
Zavid growled low in his throat. “Speaking of catastrophes, wanna bet that’s Nick Two getting eaten by something?”
Without hesitation, Nick teleported to Caleb’s room. Ready to battle to the death, he froze at the sight of the true terror that awaited him.
No, Lord, anything but this.
Demons, vampires, werewolves, brain-hungry zombies, cruel jocks—Nick could handle anything, anything … except this—this was way beyond cruel, and far beyond his ability to cope.
Truly, truly horrified, he gaped at the boy in his body who was standing on a chair, squealing and pointing at the floor, where the most terrifying thing in the world looked up in horror, too.
Disgust overwhelmed Nick as he glared at the stranger in his body. “What are you doing?”
“It’s a spider!” Nick Two screamed as he continued to gesture toward the tiny creature on the floor.
A spider? Really? Thank God it wasn’t a rat. That would have probably sent him into an epileptic seizure.
Nick sighed wearily. “You screamed like that over a bug? Seriously, dude? We live in New Orleans. Ground zero for insects. And here I thought something was about to kill you.”
Something other than him.
“It is! That’s a brown recluse! They’re poisonous.”
Nick scoffed at his unwarranted hysteria. Thank goodness this hadn’t happened at school—he’d never live it down. And rightfully so. Anyone this big a baby over something so ridiculous needed to be mocked. It was a moral imperative. “It’s a granddaddy longlegs and he’s laughing his butt off at the human idiot he chased up a chair. Dude, have some dignity, especially while you’re wearing my skin. Last thing I want is for someone to think I got treed by a harmless spider. It’d kill my rep forever.”
Trying not to roll his eyes or say something really mean about it all, Nick stepped forward to pick up the spider and remove it from the room. But the moment he touched it, an electric shock went through him.
One second it was a tiny, harmless spider, and in the next, it was a beautiful woman with a vampiric dental problem. An evil smile curled her lips as she reached for Nick. Jerking him into her arms, she sank her fangs into his neck.
“You are mine, Malachai … All mine.”
CHAPTER 18
Nick’s head swam as he appeared in a large living room with antique furniture. He wasn’t sure if he was still in a human realm or in an alternate one. There was no way to get any real bearings here. It might be New Orleans.
Heck, it might all be a dream or hallucination. There was no telling. Especially when it came to his extremely screwed-up life.
The woman holding him let go and stepped back to give him a hot once-over he might have found seductive had she not just taken a chunk out of his neck. He glared at her as he rubbed at the nasty wound that held a perfect impression of her serrated teeth. “For the record, nibbling on a guy’s skin is nice. Taking a bite out of his flesh, not the way to get a second date. Just letting you know, you need to update whatever whacked-out guy manual you’re using.”
Tall, raven-haired, and pale-skinned, she licked his blood from her lips as she smiled and playfully ruffled his hair. “You’re much sweeter-tasting than Adarian. I think I like you better already.”
Yeah, okay … There was so much about this that made him uncomfortable, he had no idea where to start listing things. But the primary concern he had was simple—“How can you bite me and make me bleed when I don’t have a physical body here?”
She laughed. “You’re very real to me, and no matter where you are, I will always be able to find and touch you.”
Had that come from Kody, he’d be thrilled with it. From this woman … that ranked up there with a Freddy Kreuger threat. “Who are you?” More importantly, what was she?
Laughing again, she nipped at his chin with enough pressure to make it hurt. “I’m your Šarru-Ninim, Livia. As soon as I awoke, I followed the scent of your blood to you. Or so I thought. I knew the real Malachai couldn’t be that sniveling coward who feared my lesser form so. While many things have changed about the world while I endured my stygian nightmare, some things will always be. And a strong, fearless Malachai is one of them.” She ran her hand down his chest toward an area of his body that made him jump away from her reach.
Nick caught her hand and pulled it away. “Babe, I don’t know you and my no zone has a very short guest list. Consider my belt the velvet rope no one crosses without an express invitation.”
She fisted her hands in his shirt and pulled him against her for another kiss.
He dodged her lips then twisted out of her arms. “Demon, please. You don’t just bite a guy, make him bleed, and expect him to fall all over you. Don’t know where you’re from, but here, that’s considered rude.”
She scoffed at him. “You need to feed from me, Malachai. I am the one who will always give you the most power. I’m the one šakkan you have on your team that no one is immune to.”
He removed her hand from his arm. “I still don’t understand how you can touch me when I have no body.”
“Like you, there is only one of me, and we are bound by the blood of your ancestors. Corporeal or not, makes no difference. Now come, kiss my lips and feast on the nectar you need to take your rightful place to unite and lead us into battle.”
Nick shook his head. “No offense, I don’t want to feast on anyone’s nectar.” Mostly ’cause it didn’t sound all that sanitary or healthy, especially given how free and nonchalant she was with handing it out. But he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, either, so he quickly added, “Not until I have my body back. Until then I don’t need to be partaking of anything other than working on an eviction notice for an arachnophobe who’s currently humiliating my real body.”
She stared at him as if he made no sense to her whatsoever.
“Malachai!”
Startled, Nick turned around to find Zarelda behind him. “What’s wrong?”
“They’re coming.”
“They?”
“The ones who want you dead. They’ve tracked you down.” She passed her hand through both him and Livia. “I can’t stop them. Not even she can see me. Only you, Nick. But you need to know. They’re about to attack my brother. Please help him.”
“What is wrong with you?”
Nick glanced over his shoulder at Livia. “You really can’t see her?”
“See who?”
Nick shook his head as Zarelda ran for a wall and vanished into it. “Never mind. You have to put me back together.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m your commander, right?”
She nodded.
“Then that’s my first round of orders. I need to get back to the others. Now. Take me to where you found me.”
Her eyes turned deep, dark red. Resistance burned bright inside them as if she was fighting against some inner force so that she could disobey him.
Finally, she let out a frustrated sound. She threw her head back, wrinkled her nose, and stomped her foot. Then she sighed and looked at him as if nothing had just happened. “Fine.” It came out like an insult the way she said it.
But before she could make good on his order, another flash blinded him to the point he saw stars from it. He held his hand up to shield his eyes from the intense light source. A loud, enraged hiss rang out, followed by a blast that exploded so close to Nick, he could feel the heat of it.
Livia returned the attack with a blast of her own. “Xevikan! Down!”
“I’m not your dog, Livia. Mind your place.”
It took Nick a second to understand the creature’s words through his thick, heavy accent. Man, it made Kyrian’s and Talon’s sound mild by comparison. Not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination.
Dressed in black pants and a long leather coat of an archaic style with a hood that concealed his features completely, the newcomer seemed humongous. Until he stepped closer to Livia and Nick realized he was probably only an inch or two taller than Nick was in his normal body. Their build was about the same, too. Only this guy had an aura about him that would rival Acheron’s for sheer lethal grace. He definitely had a high body count on something other than Castlevania.
For that matter, Nick held no doubt that the guy’s heavy combat boots were probably laced with some victim’s intestines.
Rigid from head to toe, Livia stood up to him without flinching. She raked him with a sneer that said she was unimpressed by his grand entrance. “Oh little boy, do I have to school you on your manners? I know you were thrown out by your mother just minutes after she spawned you, but trust me, I hold even less love of you than she did.”
He stepped closer to her as if trying to intimidate her with his much larger frame. And he did dwarf her. Even so, she didn’t flinch or back off a bit.
“Why do you protect something so weak and ineffectual, Liv? The only place this one can lead us is straight into defeat.”
Laughing, she stepped back and held her hand out toward Nick. “Fine. If you really believe that, take him … if you can.”
Nick gaped at the way she just casually threw him to the … whatever kind of demon, inhuman nightmare creature this was. “Excuse me? I’m not pour chien here, cher.”
Livia didn’t comment as she stepped back, out of the line of fire.
Great. He really was dog food. With no place to run, Nick braced himself for the fight.
An inhuman growl came out from the bowels of that black hood. He held his hands out and lightning sizzled over the creature’s entire body. It intensified and danced around him. Throwing his head back, he let loose a cry of anguished fury. The hood fell down against his shoulders, exposing his perfect features.
Nick held his arms up to defend against whatever attack he planned to unleash. Suddenly, the lightning stopped. For a full minute, nothing moved. No sound came from any of them.
Not even breathing.
Then slowly, the man lowered his arms and raised his head. He curled his lip. “Damn. He really is the Malachai.”
Completely confused by the display of power and free light show, Nick arched his brow as a pair of searing hazel eyes met his gaze. They were the strangest he’d ever seen. Like a kaleidoscope of reddish earth browns and greens. The color reminded him of rust nestled in summer leaves.
But that wasn’t the most peculiar thing about him and his pretty-boy looks. Oh no … This guy not only wrote the book on weird, he printed and owned every copy. Unlike virtually every guy on the planet, his hair wasn’t a single color.
It was three.
He parted it on the left side of his head. The bulk and longest strands of his hair that fell from the part were a very vivid and unnatural dyed bloodred. From his part down the shorter right strands, it was a bright unnatural yellow—like anime hair. That being said, his peekaboo roots, and strands that were laced through in places, were jet black—which had to be his real hair color. Cut short in back and longer in the front so that the red draped over his right eye, his hairstyle gave the impression that the guy was targeting whatever he was looking at. Well, that, and the intense hatred that came from the visible left eye. Yet the oddest part of all was his dyed, arctic blue eyebrows.