That familiar red demonic gaze burned into Nick. “I shouldn’t have tried to reset the past. We were born a damned abomination that should never have been conceived.”
His breathing labored, Ambrose fell to his knees on the sidewalk beside him. He looked up with an expression of woeful abandon. “Listen to me, Nick. You have to find the Eye and follow your true course. The one we were meant to follow before I screwed up so badly. Fast! It’s the only hope we have. You have to stay true to our original course. Trust me on this. Please! Do not stray from our path!”
For a moment, his eyes turned to the shade of blue Nick saw reflected in a mirror whenever he gazed in one. “Of all the mistakes I’ve made, the one I regret most is robbing you of the years where you were able to dream of normality. At your age, I knew nothing of Kyrian’s world. Of Dark-Hunters, ancient gods, and Were-Hunters. I was just a stupid kid, with stupid kid dreams.” He laughed bitterly. “I thought I was going to be a fancy uptown lawyer. That I’d have a wife and kids…” His eyes returned to red. “I’m so sorry I took that from you. I just wanted to save us. Give us something to hope for.”
“Wide is the gate that leads to destruction,” Nick said, quoting his mother’s favorite saying, “and many are those who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is straight that leads to life, and few are those who find it.”
Ambrose snorted. “It’s why there’s a highway to hell, but only a single stairway to heaven.” He looked up at Nick. “I’ve lost the war. By fighting, I only made it worse. Find the Eye and reset our course. We have to go back in order to move forward. It’s the only hope we have. The Riders are out and they are about to take you down, little brother. Move fast, with purpose, or we’re both lost. There’s so much you have to do, that I can’t even begin to tell you how to fix it. But the Eye can.” He rose slowly to his feet. “I won’t be able to help after this. You’re on your own.”
Nick gave a short half laugh. “I’m good with that. I came into this world alone, and that’s how I’ll leave it… I was born standing up and talking back. Cajun proud and Cajun strong from my first breath to my last.”
Wings shot out of Ambrose’s back as he changed from human to full Malachai form. His skin marbled red and black as his eyes turned to full-on pret. Fangs and claws flashing, he grabbed Nick’s jaw in his fist and tilted his head until they locked gazes. “We are Malachai above all else. Now and forever. Never forget that.” Throwing his head back, he let loose a horrific blast of blue-tinged fire toward the sky before he vanished.
Shaken and trembling, Nick stood there as everything returned to normal and the rain again saturated him. But in his mind, he saw what Ambrose did. Nick saw the bloody future that awaited them, and there in the cold, winter rain, he refused to be intimidated. He refused to allow fate and Ambrose to win.
I will not become you, old man.
He would find this Eye and figure out where Ambrose and the others had gone wrong. He would stop whatever hell-monkey was currently loose and messing with his friends and family.
But most of all, he would make sure that he never fulfilled the destiny that said he would destroy this world. Kody believed in the prophecy that said he was the Malachai who would save their line. And he believed in her.
Since the day he was born, he’d been defying the odds. Today was not the day to stop that trend. Unlike Ambrose, he wasn’t about to give up or give in.
So long as there was breath in his body, there was life. So long as there was life, there was hope. And so long as there was hope, there was the possibility of victory.
Life wasn’t about just getting by. It was about getting through, no matter what, and making the most of every minute.
A chill went down his spine as he remembered what his father had said to him. The Malachai will never be forgotten. But it’s entirely up to you as to how you’ll be remembered.
Nick Gautier would not be remembered as a coward or a villain. He was going out a hero and a champion.
And he would not go down without a vicious, vicious fight.
As he started after Zavid, his phone rang. It was Kody. He answered immediately. “Hey, cher. What’s up?”
“Where are you?”
“Outside Caleb’s. Why? What’cha need?”
“You. Fast as possible. There’s something here and it’s after your mother.”
CHAPTER 8
T
he instant Nick appeared in his living room, he was violently lifted off his feet and slammed so hard onto the wood floor that it knocked the breath out of him. Flat on his back, he moaned out loud while his ears rang violently. Ah, dang, it hurt! All he could do was choke and wheeze. It felt like he’d been mowed down by an eighteen-wheeler traveling faster than the speed of sound.
Or tackled by Bubba for prematurely interrupting an episode of Oprah.