Illusion

CHAPTER 6

Kody stepped back as Karma approached her like a hungry tigress. She wasn’t afraid of the woman. Not even a little—she’d grown up with Karma as one of her fiercest protectors. But she understood trying to protect what you loved. There was truly nothing more dangerous than a person guarding their family on their home territory. It was a lesson Karma had taught her well. So she would give Karma space and relieve her fears. Unlike Tabitha, who fought physically, Karma was a spiritual warrior. She would know and understand the world Kody came from better than anyone.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Karma. I’m not going to hurt you or your sisters.” They, too, were her family. And both Amanda and Tabitha had died fighting beside Kody’s mother against the Malachai and his army.

Ever mistrustful of those she didn’t know, Karma scoffed as she circled her, sizing her up as if they were about to battle. “How do I know that?”

“Because I’m an Arel.”

Only a subtle tensing of Karma’s body betrayed her knowledge of Kody’s species. Still, the woman wasn’t about to give away anything else. “You say that like it’s supposed to have meaning to me.”

Kody laughed nervously at Karma’s continued insistence on this song and dance of ignorance. But she couldn’t blame her for being cautious. Karma was someone who had mind-traveled through the many ethers and who routinely talked to creatures like Kody. As well as those who were born of darkness. Those who lied and deceived. Those who would use human naiveté to prey on their victims.

Only a master sorceress with finely honed powers and extensive esoteric knowledge could have created the boundary that shielded this house and kept Kody and the others locked inside it.

“You know what it means, Karma.” The Arelim were protectors of the highest order. At one time, they had been nothing more than messengers for the Malachai and Sephirii. Celestial gofers for the ancient gods, and their servants. But after the first war of the gods that had ended both the Malachai and Sephirii bloodlines, the Arelim had risen to be the Guardians of Order and Truth. They were charged with ensuring that the human world didn’t end.

That the Malachai remained forever dormant.

Karma shook her head. “You can’t be an Arel and a ghost. They’re born immortal.”

“As was I. But even immortals can die under the wrong circumstances. And you’re right. I wasn’t born an Arel. Because of the blood of my parents, I was chosen to be one. I’m a nekoda, and all of my kind are selected from those who’ve died.”

Finally, the light of recognition that they were on the same team sparked in Karma’s eyes. “You’re a soldier.”

Kody hesitated at the label that didn’t quite fit. “More of a guardian. I fight when I have to, but that’s not my primary role.”

Karma cocked her head as she continued to study Kody and read her aura. “I’m still confused. You said Nick killed you, and yet you’re here to protect him? Why?”

That was definitely the question. And it was one Kody asked herself constantly. At times, she wasn’t sure, either. But whenever she looked into those vibrant blue eyes that showed her Nick’s soul, she had clarity.

If only it would last.

Sighing, Kody walked around the small foyer that held traces of Karma’s past and showed the very things the sorceress valued most. Her family. The walls were lined with pictures of Karma and her sisters and aunts and mother. Many were with their father, who smiled proudly in the midst of his nine daughters.

Tears choked her as Kody remembered her own father looking at her like that, of him holding on to her, afraid of letting her go and more terrified of keeping her with him because of the things that had been sent to kill them. Like Nick, her father had possessed a kind and, oddly enough given the viciousness of his past, innocent soul. Even in spite of the fact that her father had been one of the fiercest ancient soldiers. A general of legend who had fought back the ancient gods until they’d been forced to resort to trickery to defeat him. Maybe that was why she was so drawn to Nick. He reminded her a lot of her father and brothers. A lot of her uncle. That indefatigable spirit that refused to buckle under any fight or obstacle.

Over, under, around, or through, there’s always a way. You don’t give up and you never give in. They can scar your body and take your freedom, but only you can surrender your heart and soul. Nothing is worth compromising yourself for. Stand fast and stand true. Always. That had been her father’s motto that had seen him through centuries of horror, torture, and suffering.

It was the motto Nekoda clung to even in her darkest hours.

She faced Karma. “Life is never simple. It’s messy, complicated, and at times debilitating. When I fought Nick as a living demigod, I alone drove him back. I had the Malachai and his army on the run.”

“Then how did he kill you?”

“I had been wounded in a previous battle and my brother refused to let me fight alone. While he was a fierce and skilled warrior in his own right, he didn’t have the powers I did. And when he died protecting me, I lost all reason. Even though I knew better, I let my anger grab hold of me and I attacked in a blind rage. The Malachai didn’t defeat me so much as I defeated myself.”

“Is that why you were chosen to be a nekoda?”

Kody nodded. “I’m the only one left who can defeat a Malachai. The Nasaru—”

“The what?”

“The elite Arelim. They are the ones born to their positions and they’re the ones who select the nekodi from the fallen. They knew that I alone possess the powers to take down a Malachai, and so here I am.”

That suspicious light returned to Karma’s eyes. “I know there’s more to this than you’re telling me. But I still don’t understand why you’re helping the boy who killed you.”

Kody wrapped her arms around herself as her memories of the Ambrose Malachai surged. Even now, she could see that awful day in her mind when Ari had carried her toward safety. Bodies of their friends, family, and army had lined the battlefield. Blood had run like rainwater under their feet.

She’d done her best to tell her brother that she was fine, in spite of her wounds. To put her down so that they could both return to battle.

In true big-brother fashion, Ari had refused to listen to her. There is nothing I will not do to protect my family.

Those words had brought a fury to the Malachai’s eyes that seared her to this day. With a hell-born cry, the Malachai had headed straight for them.

She’d tried to warn her brother, but Ari wouldn’t let her go. Not until he was sure she was safe. By then, it’d been too late. The Malachai had caught up to them, and before Ari could lift his sword, the Malachai had driven his dagger through her brother’s courageous heart.

Because of her.

The guilt of that never left her, not even for a heartbeat. Too many lives had been lost in this fight. She couldn’t fail them.

But more than that, she couldn’t blindly follow orders, either. While they knew what the Malachai would one day do, they didn’t know what would happen once he was gone.

Who or what would replace him.

That was the true nightmare that stayed with her. The one that rode her with spurs and without letup.

Kody locked gazes with Karma. “Because it wasn’t Nick who destroyed my family. It’s what he will one day become.” She gestured toward the door Nick had left through. “That boy possesses one of the purest hearts I’ve ever encountered. He’s not like the other Malachai I’ve fought.”

“You’re hoping to save him?”

Kody nodded. “And I’m hoping to save myself.”

“From death?”

In part. But there were things far worse than death. She knew that better than anyone. “From becoming a monster.”

Karma scowled at her. “I don’t understand.”

Kody laughed nervously as the true horror of what she faced came home to roost. It wasn’t something she liked thinking about. Yet it was more than just a possibility.

It was a probability of the worst sort.

“Whoever kills the Malachai will absorb his powers.”

“Ah,” Karma said as she finally understood. “You’re afraid of becoming one yourself.”

Again, Kody nodded. “And with the powers I already hold and knowledge I have … No one will be able to stop me. I will tear the entire universe apart. But if I save Nick, if I can keep him grounded and human—”

“You will save everyone, including yourself.”

“Exactly.” Most of all, she could reset the deaths of her family and not lose them. Not have Ari’s and Urian’s souls imprisoned by a creature who lived to torment them.

Karma pursed her lips. “I’m still not sure I should believe you.”

“You’ve been lied to before by a demon.” One that had almost stolen Karma’s soul.

“Yeah. It kind of destroys the whole trust factor.”

And that was why Karma kept everything in her home locked down. So that no evil would ever be released into the world again. At least not from something she did.

“What can I do to convince you?”

“Show me your real form.”

Kody tsked at her. “You know I’m forbidden from doing that.”

“You’re not in your realm and it’s the only way I’ll believe you. A demon of any species is incapable of assuming the form of an Arel.”

Because they were the essence of good. Only the purest of hearts and most uncorrupted soul could be one. Therefore a demon had no way of duplicating their forms. They couldn’t hold it without being burned from the inside out.

If it was anyone else, this would be off the table. But Karma was a human version of the Arelim. What harm could there be in allaying her fears?

Kody inclined her head to Karma before she stepped back and spread her arms wide. White light engulfed her as she unfurled her white, iridescent wings that matched her skin and hair. Snow-white armor covered her entire body.

Gasping, Karma stumbled back, falling against the wall behind her. “Oh my God, it’s true!”

Kody leaned her head back and allowed her form to return to that of a high school girl. To the face and body that had been hers before the Malachai had killed her.

When she returned her gaze to Karma, she saw the fear and resolve inside the woman. “Release me from your home. I have to get to Nick and protect him.”

“We might have a problem with that.”

Kody scowled at the note in Karma’s voice. “How so?”

Karma glanced up the staircase. All of a sudden, there was a raw, unmistakable presence of evil in the room. It made the air heavy and tainted it with the sour stench of sulfur.

Dread filling every part of her, Kody turned to see what Karma was looking at.

Kody’s jaw went slack as she saw the last thing she wanted to deal with. Tall, blond, and stunning, the demonspawn on the stairs had eyes so green they all but glowed. Even on his best day, he was hard to deal with and viciously unpredictable. Acerbic and sarcastic.

And with every step he took toward her, the air grew heavier.

Deadlier.

“What are you doing here?” Kody asked.

He arched a brow at her question as he slowly descended the stairs with an arrogant swagger that harkened back to the days when he’d been an early medieval warlord who had led his army on a voracious killing spree throughout all of Europe. “Do we know each other?”

Kody hesitated as she reminded herself that the people and preternatural beings here most likely wouldn’t know her. Aside from the fact that this wasn’t her world, this wasn’t her time. She wouldn’t be born for many more centuries.

And Thorn had no idea that one day he’d be reading her bedtime stories and rocking her to sleep.

That memory was so incongruous with the fierce, powerful demon lord in front of her that she had to bite back a smile. “I might have you mistaken for someone else.”

Karma laughed until she met Thorn’s gaze. “She’s the Malachai’s protector.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “So this is what he summoned as a protector while he was fighting me? Really? She seemed bigger when she slammed me into the wall.”

Karma slid a sideways glance toward Kody. “She’s an Arel.”

Thorn’s eyes turned the color of blood as his fangs descended. There was a cold spark of delight in his green eyes. “An Arel … it’s been a long time since I fed on one of those.”

Fear rose up inside Kody as she realized the horrendous mistake she’d made because of her memories and her past with these people. All of that had happened in a different realm, and none of the people she knew in her past were the same here as they’d been in her world.

Karma and her sisters weren’t her allies. And neither was Thorn.

In this realm, they were her enemies.

And Nick was alone and defenseless, in the custody of two people who would now hand him over to the very things her family had died fighting against.

By trying to save Nick, Kody had just unleashed the Malachai in a world where he would do even more damage.

And into the hands of people who wanted to use him for evil.