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And with that, he quit the room

Acheron returned to their previous discussion "So, is there any demon you wanted to know about in particular?"

Don’t do it

But before his common sense could prevail over his stupidity, he blurted out the one thing he wanted to know most "Ever heard of a Malachai?"

Acheron’s jaent slack, thus confire of Nick’s species "Where did you hear that term?"

Yeah, okay, it was a touchy subject for Acheron, too

"The de about them?"

"More than I want to"

"Meaning?"

Ash did what he did best--he diverted a personal question into a generic one "A Malachai is one of the oldest demons in existence There’s only one left, so it’s not likely you’ll ever come across him"

If only he was that lucky

Now to test exactly how e Ash had of Nick and his father "Do you knohere he is?"

Acheron shook his head "No one does He escaped fro ever since"

Nick had to give his father credit He ht be a first-rate jerk, but he kne to shield hi?"

Ash frowned "You seely curious"

"I a about hi really special about a Malachai?"

"Yeah, if you want to seriously le people or end the world as we know it, he’s the one to summon He was the first of the demonic destroyers and his breed fathered many of the subsequent and best-known evil demons Luckily, none of the children possess the powers of their fathers Rather, they’re all watered-down versions of the Malachai"

"Really?" That wasn’t what Nick had been told

Ash nodded "The only exception is the original Malachai bloodline The firstborn alone can father a child even ht, that explained Nick’s powers and why they were so dangerous

"Do you knohy?" Nick asked

"Not really But I suspect it has to do with the fact that he, unlike the others of his kind, was born frooddess who had an affair with a Sephiroth"

"What’s a Sephiroth?" Nick already knew, but if he didn’t ask, Acheron ain

"They were consorts and soldiers of the priods But they were never supposed to breed with theoddess wanted a baby and she wanted it to be powerful, but not torn by pantheon politics So, she conceived a child with her Sephiroth, as also a deod"

"What made the Malachai evil?"

Ash paused before he answered "While he was born froht So he had a fifty-fifty shot as to which side he’d fall on Soods To end that war and save the world, the original gods forged a truce that required both the light and dark powers to destroy what reoddess struck a bargain to spare one Sephiroth and one Malachai So all of them were put to death, except the Sephiroth who had betrayed his people and her son Then her son became infused with hatred and turned psychotic when he was ordered by the light gods to kill the Malachai female he’d hidden froave Nick hope "I didn’t think they could love"

"You can’t really hate without it And Monakribos worshiped his beloved Rubati But when he refused to end her life, the gods tricked hi in his arnant with his child and that by his own actions, he’d killed theods and, in particular, his mother, to save the the war they’d just ended Instead, she made it so that he could have more children But if they were born with his Malachai abilities, to keep with the truce she’d agreed to, he would have to die by their tenth birthday or whenever they came into their powers"

Man, it sucked to be a Malachai

I a kids

"How did he beco the worief drove him mad and poisoned his blood with hatred and venom And that’s how you know a Malachai when you co their powers to conceal what they are, they don’t bleed red A full-blown Malachai bleeds black"

That was so to remember So far, he was red-blooded… Good There was still hope for hio evil?"

Ash nodded

Now Nick knehat to look for That actually helped a great deal "Next question Do they have to go evil?"

"That is the question, isn’t it? Are ns to, orhas to make that choice for hiood?"

"In theory As with all other species, it depends on his strength of character, and the decisions he makes"

For the first tiht He could avoid the destiny that awaited him He didn’t have to become a cold-blooded killer, after all

Awesoainst your nature Especially when you’re a creature of destruction One bad tes you don’t mean to and it’s too late to undo them Creatures like the Malachai have a harder ti in to the darkness that’s forever seducing them"

Nick scowled "You sound like you have personal experience with that"

"We all have de--every heart holds tolves One is the white wolf, who is made up of love, kindness, respect, decency, coood in life The black wolf is born of jealousy, hatred, pettiness, prejudice, vindictiveness, and all the poisons of the human personality The two constantly ith each other for dominance And one day, one ill overtake and devour the other"

"Yeah, but which one?"

"Always the one you feed, kid You feed good to it and the white one grows You feed evil and the black wolf devours But in the end, you alone make the choice of which wolf you nurture And that’s true of every species and race"