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Caleb felt his teeth sharpen and elongate in response to that threat "I coet that"

If only he could "One day I’ to break free of you, Malachai"

"And until you do, you will do exactly as I order Now guardhappen to them Do you understand?"

"I understand But how am I to train him if I can’t have him attacked?"

Adarian’s lips curled into a sardonic smile "You’re resourceful Find a way And remember, I’m in this jail because I choose to be I can leave it and come for you anytime I want to"

It was true Adarian lived here because he fed off the cruelty and evil of others This prison was like living in an Energizer factory as far as he was concerned It kept hi that came at him

Except for his son Nick’s presence could weaken hi his father, he was allowing Adarian’s powers to reth, which put the rest of thee

Adarian pulled him closer "You better not betray me, Malphas Not in this"

Caleb would accuse hi the boy, but he knew better This wasn’t about love It was about power If Adarian could keep Nick alive and awayfroh Nick and there would be no power on this earth or beyond that could stop him None

Other than Nick, the only one as capable of bringing down the Malachai army was now imprisoned and kept as weak as a sick kitten While Adarian’s powers grew, Jared’s deteriorated under the care of a vicious guardian who had no idea just how i, just as it’d done in the days before recorded history Then the bloodiest of all battles had raged One of the fiercest soldiers, Caleb had barely survived it and the ht withAdarian’s father had cost hi

Noas servant to his son

Life really sucked

"I will obey youmaster" That title stuck deep in his craw

Adarian smiled "Good boy And remember, my son must be evil to the marrow of his bones You have to turn him No matter what it takes Do you hear me?"

"What if the only way I can turn hiain "You touch one hair on her headyou allow anyone else to, and I will htmares Cherise is mine and no one else is to ever lay a hand on her"

That was the one order Caleb couldn’t understand Again, he would attribute it to love, but there was no way the Malachai could love anything except hi low, he backed away from Adarian

Caleb had to force hih the wall But once he was out of sight, he used his talons to flip off the demon lord

Protect the boy, my arse

What irony, really The fate of the entire world, of humanity and demonkyn, was in the hands of a fourteen-year-old boy who had no idea of the untapped powers he’d been born with

A fourteen-year-old boy whose biggest fear was getting grounded by a mother ouldn’t even be a decent snack for Caleb and his kith What a waste of power

And I’m the schmuck wio has to protect him

Not just from the demons, but also from the olves like Stone, and others who had a natural inclination to pick on Nick because they could sense that he wasn’t quite hunities never cease?

CHAPTER 12

a

Hello? Mr Human Boy Person? Can you hear the Simi? Or are you dead? Hello?"

Nick ca a hole in his upper ar on irls he’d ever seen leaning over hi

Teachto be her victim anytime she wanted to invade his personal space, even if it ith nothing tails and was streaked with bloodred She had on a studded leather choker that matched the black leather corset she wore Probably around the age of seventeen or eighteen, she had a pair of red eyes (ed with black eyeliner Her lips were also bright red, like her fingernails And her features were absolutely perfect Dressed in a really short black and red skirt, she had purple leggings and a pair of bright red Doc Martens that were accented with a skull-and-rose esture that reminded him of a bird as she eyed hiround out here, Mr Boy Hu to do Coht think you dead and steal so or they could kill you

Maybe not if they think you dead already, but then again, people do weird things all the tih they’re dead Is that overkill or is that just duet up soon and not sleep here Did you lose your bed? Or are you one of them special people who don’t have a bed but sleep outside instead? Some of them can be real nice Some even offer the Simi drinks, but akri says I can’t have any ’cause it’ll give estion Not like rubber does, but worse So says akri" She had a strange singsongy voice that was endearing and adorable

But ither a little difficult, especially with the headache he had "What?" Nick asked

She let out a long-suffering sigh "You one of them humans can’t follow Simi speak That’s okay This why the Si to most humans ’cause, no offense, you all weird Some of you even stupid Real stupid Like stump stupid It’s the lack of hornays, I say See, only really smart creatures have hornaysexcept for theht But akri says there’s always an exception to every rule So they would be the exception to the hornayone But they taste really good so the Si down her bell curve of superior intellect over all the other nonhorned subspecies"

She narrowed her eyes on his head "Hmmm, I bet you’d be really cute with hornays Not that you’re not cute right now, but you’re a bit young You’re only what? Four in hu, isn’t it? You ninety?"