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"HOW&039;S HE DOING?"

Tory looked up fro, to e, she could have sworn his eyes were green earlier

He was out of his wet suit and dressed in a pair of white linen pants with an open beach shirt that showed off his sculpted torso His long brown hair ept back from his handsome face

"War tore hi over to look at them He propped himself up on the pillows and then brushed his black hair back with his fingers "Believe ave hiet run over by a car not that long ago"

Ash snorted as he laced his fingers with hers "In ave her aa near-death experience That doesn&039;t count"

Savitar ignored his jibe "Well, the good news is we routed him The bad news is-"

Ash finished the sentence for him "He&039;ll be back"

Savitar nodded

Tory sed as fear seized her "Should we startpreparations here?"

Savitar looked completely offended by her question "Punk-ass won&039;t come to my island He knows better You don&039;t tap on the Dev il&039;s shoulder unless you&039;re willing to dance to his tune"

Ash cleared his throat and gave Savitar a droll stare "Actually, Tory, there&039;s a reason the island moves all the time Sav is a bit paranoid, so the island is heavily shielded froet to Neratiti without a special invitation froht you here We kneould be the only place War couldn&039;t get to Me andinvitation that doesn&039;t extend to the rest of the known universe"

Savitar bristled "And even if he could find it, he wouldn&039;t dare bring his loserness here I&039;d kick it back to the Stone Age," Savitar said with hurom It&039;s what saved your hide, now isn&039;t it?"

"Yes, and thank you"

Savitar inclined his head to hiain Yourfor pain into an Oly o let her sit on you until you hatch, but I don&039;t want the world to end Suck ass though it is However, if the nagging persists, I hed "I&039;ll keep that in mind So any leads on oke up our new friend and told hiave them a sullen look "My money&039;s on Artemis"

Savitar made a buzzer sound "I&039;ll take that bet, because you lose Word froood news for you two since it see Ash&039;s girl any death warrants on you two, either Small victory, true But better than none at all"

Tory frowned "Then who-"

"Our boy Stryker unleashed hirid, which means he&039;s probably back in Kalosis to report his spectacular failure to Stryker"

Ash&039;s eyes narroith concern "Isby the noise in my head over you, that&039;s a definite affirmative But don&039;t worry I had the Charonte rally around her She&039;s not happy about it, but for once she&039;s being reasonable Her main concern is your safety And she said for you to do what you have to to keep yourself healthy Her life be da to kill Stryker and then bury ether?"

Savitar shrugged "She lacks our ability to see the future Her powers are destruction, not prophecy I&039;m sure had she known he would one day threaten you, she&039;d have killed him herself And now you knohy I take pity on no one All compassion does is come back and bite the fat of your arse"

Ash pulled the covers back froht him and pushed him back toward the pillows "You should rest"

He kissed her hand "I can&039;t There&039;s a lunatic on the loose and probably hiding inhis eyes, he manifested clothes on his body "We have to prepare Find a place where we can face War without a high bystander body count"

Savitar rolled his eyes "Little brother, I don&039;tabout War here There&039;s no way to es He won&039;t let us I was there with twenty-five Chthonians to fight him and he spanked our hides like ere Lemurian slave women Two of us had our hearts ripped out and shoved down our throats while he laughed, then he licked the blood clean froers and came at the rest of us I barely survived and it took me two de cades of human time to recuperate from those wounds Don&039;t think I fear the bastard, I don&039;t I just want you to fully understand what it is we&039;re dealing with"

Ash frowned at his words, but his resolve was set They had to defeat War one way or another "How did you trap hiantes caoddess Eirene is the only one left alive And we&039;re down to only eight surviving Chthonians That number includes you"

Even so, Ash refused to believe it was hopeless "There&039;s always an off-switch We have to find it"

"We will try In the ot word fro in Dai numbers that would make Cecil B DeMille proud"

"Why?"

"Stryker&039;s planning to rain hell on the humans come Christmas day Of course Urian said you could probably offset that by offering yourself up as a sacrifice Strykerto call the attack off if you surrender yourself to War and die a painful death"

Tory&039;s gaze narrowed angrily on Ash "Don&039;t you dare I swear, Acheron Parthenopaeus, if you even think about it, I&039;ll beat you down until you beg rip on her hand "Don&039;t worry Even if I turned o after the huh to think he&039;d ever show ? It&039;s not the hand you&039;re dealt that matters It&039;s how you play the cards you hold" He rose from the bed "Sav, I need you to take up residence with estion "Are you insane? That wouts No, she doesn&039;t hateAsh had never understood, but it didn&039;t change the fact that he couldn&039;t leave her alone with Stryker and War "Take Alexion and Danger with you and stand by her side to make sure they don&039;t hurt her" She&039;d tolerate them around her a lot easier than she would Savitar "Otherwise I&039;ll have to do it, and since the point of this is to avoid the apocalypse, my presence in her home would be extremely counterproductive"

If Ash were to ever step foot in Kalosis, his mother would destroy the earth even faster than Stryker and War "You&039;re the only one I trust to keep her safe frohand we&039;re on opposite sides of this war, she is my mother and I don&039;t want her hurt"

Savitar looked like he&039;d rather be gutted Not that Ash blamed him His mother could be extremelytemperamental and difficult to deal withand she loved hiht," Savitar relented "I&039;ll go But you owe , no matter what it is, I own you"

Ash snorted "She&039;s not that bad"

"How you figure that, grom? Your mother&039;s the Destroyer It&039;s a title she not only earned, but one she relishes And you&039;re sending me in with only a few Charonte as backup What did I ever do to you?"

He laughed "Man up, Sav You&039;re whining like a little girl"

"If your mother has her way, she&039;ll turn me into one, and I look like shit in pink Thanks, kid"

Ash shook his head as he watched the Chthonian vanish As Ash started across the room, he found Tory firmly planted in his way She stood like a military commander ready for hich boded bad for hi?"

"To see Nick"

She scoffed "Do you really think that will be productive? The uts more than Stryker does You&039;ll be lucky if he doesn&039;t pull your spine out through your nostrils"

"Nice to have Miss Merry Sunshine back again Any other Eeyore outlooks you&039;d like to share?"

"Just one If you leave here, War can find you again What are you going to do if that happens?"

"Leave bloodstains on his best shirt"

Her eyes darkened "You&039;re not funny, Ash You said it yourself This island is the only place safe frood I&039;etting hurt I have to warn Nick that he has an enemy after him I owe hiave hi with you"

Like hell He&039;d tie her down before he allowed that While she had some of his mother&039;s powers, she didn&039;t have the for her life "I&039;ll take Xirena with rowled at hi smile he hoped would melt some of her ire "I learned from the best"

"Yeah, I know I&039;ve met your mother"

LEAVING THE DEMON XIRENA OUTSIDE TO KEEP her safe should a fight break out, Ash paused inside Nick&039;s house as he felt for the Cajun&039;s presence There was no heartbeat to be heard

But there was an undeniable power here Ancient and cold, it set off every warning in Ash&039;s body

Ready to battle, he flashed himself upstairs to Nick&039;s bedrooest As soon as Ash manifested, a tall, lean redheaded man turned toward him Eerie yellow eyes were filled with torment and power, and set in a face so delicately chiseled it bordered on pretty His shoulder-length red hair framed his face perfectly Dressed in black Goth, like Ash, the man was someone he hadn&039;t seen in centuries

"Jared?"

The Sephiroth inclined his head respectfully "Long tihed before he set one of Nick&039;s Voodoo dolls back on his dresser "Probably the sa for Nick Gautier I suppose my only question to you is if he&039;s your friend or foe"

"Does it matter?"

His face steeled "Not really I just want to kno angry you&039;re going to be when I kill hies nothing" He walked around the roo Nick&039;s essence so that he could track him

Ash used his powers to shield Nick so that Jared couldn&039;t get an accurate reading "Why are you so interested in Nick?"

Jared flicked at the black leather containment collar around his throat with his thumb "Not my place to question why I&039;m merely here to obey like the mindless supplicant they&039;ve forced me to become"

Ash flinched at the reminder of slavery A common bond they shared and one he wouldn&039;t wish on his worst ene before hi

"Can I ask a favor of you?" Jared said in a tone that told hi

Even so, Ash was cautious Favors seldom turned out well for anyone "Depends on the favor"

Jared gave hiht smile as he pulled his black leather coat off and exposed the dragon tattoo on his forearm "Nim Human form Now"

Ash watched as the dark shadoisted up fro ht, the deles that rested on his ernails were painted as black as his eyes and clothes The only color on his body came from a small pink stuffed bunny that he had chained to his hip

Nim&039;s black eyes fastened on Acheron and widened He darted behind Jared&039;s back to hide "Friend or foe?"

Jared let out an aggravated breath "Friend And a good one at that"

Nim peeked around like an unsure child "He reeks of Charonte deo with him"

"No!" the small demon barked "Nim stays with Jared Always"

Jared cursed "Could you help a brother out, Acheron? I need you to take custody of Nim and keep him safe for me"

"No!" Nirowled in response "Dao with Acheron"

The demon clutched the small pink bunny to his chest and frantically shook his head no "Nim stays with Jared Those are the laws"

A muscle twitched in Jared&039;s jaw "I should have never saved your life"

Ash felt his pain and understood what Jared was doing Since Ash had a demon of his own, he knehat a weakness they could be And what a responsibility Even though the dee of twenty, his actions said he was even younger than Ash&039;s Si worse than adolescent demons"

"You have no idea"

"Actually, I do" Ash approached Nim slowly, like he would a s will hurt you"

Niave him a mean, sullen stare "I don&039;t know you"

Jared tried to push his at both of them in a vicious hiss "He&039;s been with the Charonte and they hate me They hurt Nim and make him bleed I want to stay with Jared" Nion tattoo on Jared&039;s neck

Jared let out a long, aggravated breath "Is there any way to get hiures" His eyes shiold flecks that flipped until his eyes were a solid golden a to kill him if I don&039;t find him a new home"

"I think you need to tell him that"

"He says he&039;d rather be dead than leave uess that makes me the psycho uncle no one wants to talk to And he&039;s the kid with only iinary friends for company Normal Rockwell, here we come"

Ash smiled at his twist on the paint er&039;s na either of theave him a harsh stare "Would you feel that way if it were Siet hi an exposed weakness that those around you preyed on One they used to control your actions and subjugate you Ash knew that better than anyone And he felt sorry for Jared&039;s situation

Sighing, Ash changed the subject to so he could perhaps control "So ere you ordered to kill Nick?"

Jared shrugged his coat back on "He&039;s the last of the Malachai bloodline"

Ash laughed at the absurdity of that idea "Nick Gautier is a Malachai? C&039; He&039;s the last of their breed"

Stunned, Ash actually gaped Nick Gautier? And yet as ludicrous as that seeely made sense Nick&039;s unfounded powers Ash&039;s inability to control him

Shit

How could he havefor it Who would have? They were an extinct breed

"Don&039;t feel so bad," Jared said softly "His poere bound and hidden much the way yours hen you were human It wasn&039;t until War attacked him that they kicked in"

"Does Nick knohat he is?"

Jared shook his head "My job is to kill him before he learns it"

"I can&039;t let you do that"

"You have no choice and neither do I" He vanished before Ash could even draw breath to speak

"Jared!"

The Sephiroth ignored him completely "Damn it!" If Jared found Nick before he did, the boy was deader than five o&039;clock roadkill

"YOU&039;RE LOOKING ENTIRELY TOO SMUG WITH yourself"

Stryker glanced over his shoulder to see Zephyra eyeing him "I have you here Why shouldn&039;t I be pleased?"