And as Nick looked at Caleb, he saw his friend’s form change before his eyes. It was like he could see under Caleb’s skin and that Caleb was no longer human. He was …
“A daeva. A midlevel class of demon. Not innately evil. They were soldiers of an older time and place. Protectors or messengers for the ancient gods. In the case of Caleb, he was a feared general who is stil capable of summoning and commanding legions of demons.
“FYI, Nick, not al demons are bad. Like people, they’re complicated life forms with varying personalities and quirks.
Fil ed with complex emotions, some are malevolent and some are good. In the case of Caleb, he’s your protector. He would die to keep you safe.
“So before you judge him about being born a species he couldn’t help any more than you could help yours, you should know that he’s stayed in the background as a silent bodyguard who didn’t step forward until he was needed to keep you safe.
“Real y, do you think he’s enjoyed being in high school with you and the others when he didn’t have to be?” Nick saw an image of Caleb with wings, his flaming orange hair long as he stood at the helm of a thousand demons, leading them to battle. His skin dark red, he had yel ow eyes like a serpent’s and he fought with the strength of a titan.
Nick shook his head. I’m going crazy.
“No, you’re becoming aware of who and what you are. Of everything around you that has always remained hidden—just as I promised you you would.”
Who are you? Nick asked silently.
“Ambrose … and I’m also here to protect you. Listen to me, Nick, and I’l teach you everything you need to fight the creatures who are going to come for you. The ones who’l ruin your life if you continue to live without the ability to see them and fight back.”
Nick scowled. I don’t understand. Why did you run from me at Madaug’s?
“I wasn’t running from you. I was trying to save your friend before the mortents hurt him. But like you, he didn’t listen to me.”
Yeah, right. Why don’t I believe this?
“It’s true, Nick. Remember the little girl in the al ey? The one who attacked you?”
Duh. Not like I could forget that Wes Cravenesque encounter anytime soon.
Then again, they’d done something to him that he had forgotten it. But now he remembered every single detail.
WTH?
“I told you they were cal ed mortents. They crawled out of their hole, and this time, they claimed your friend Madaug and his family. They want to use his video game to control the living—because the living stil possess their souls and their free wil , living zombies are immune to our silkspeech and powers of manipulation. We can’t control them like we can the dead. If the mortents can get the game from Madaug, they can use it to control you in particular, and they can build an army out of the living to attack the world.” Why me? I don’t understand why this is happening and why they’d give two spits about controlling me. I can’t even walk across the floor without getting grounded.
“Nick, you are key to some of the rawest, most potent powers ever created. The battles for your possession wil scar you in ways you won’t know until it’s too late. If you listen to me, I can save you.”
I’m key? Dude, you seriously have me mistaken for someone else.
“No, I don’t. I, better than anyone else, know exactly how powerful you are and what you can do. And deep inside, you feel those powers too. You’ve spent your whole life denying them. Saying it was Menyara or a sixth sense. It’s not a buried sense. It’s your birthright and you have got to embrace it or you wil lose everything that matters to you.” And if I don’t believe this crap?
Images of a dark, frightening hole flashed in his mind. He saw himself in the future looking a lot like Ambrose. Alone.
Bereft.
Tortured.
Most of al , he was inhuman and cruel.
“If they can turn you evil, they wil be rewarded and you wil be ruined. And everyone you love wil pay the price.
“Everyone.”
Nick shook his head in an effort to dispel the horrific images. Terror choked him as he feared becoming the monster his father was. Of becoming the creature he’d just seen.
I don’t want to be evil.
“You can’t just say it and make it so. It’s not that easy.” Of course it is. My mom tells me all the time that we decide between good and evil. What we are is completely up to us.
“And things drive us to make decisions that are beyond our control. Just like your mother. You know how much she hates dancing and yet there she is every night, right on time, often working double shifts to bring in more money. For you. And you haven’t been betrayed yet, Nick. You don’t know what that’s like. What it does to you. The scars it leaves that never fade.”
Not true. Alan, Mike, and Tyree had all betrayed me.
“And you want their blood for it.”