The Demon's Game (15 page)

It wasn’t that Ghidorah was scary, though his aura
was imposing and his power was undeniable, but I could never get a good sense
of the Guardian. I was allergic to him. Well, I was allergic to the plants his
people used to clean themselves, which caused my nose to clog up for hours.

“Outside,” Dylan said. Ghidorah glanced at me with
understanding before walking out the door without a word. “Stick around, demon.
I still have use of you.”

“Not if it means being around that…” the demon
trailed off with a shiver.

“Leave Ghidorah to me. Hell, get your brother to bed
and read him a story. He’ll feel better when he wakes up. Demon, go figure out
the coffee pot and make some coffee. Mordon, sit on the couch and rest.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with Ghidorah,” I said.

He gave me a look. “I don’t have any allergy
medicine.”

“I’ll deal with it.” Before he could protest, I went
to the door. With a sigh, he followed.

Ghidorah stood outside our apartment, alone with our
fae neighbor. He had his hand on her stomach and her eyes were closed. My first
instinct was to stop him, because whatever he was doing, I didn’t like him
being so close to the woman. However, I couldn’t make my feet move or my mouth
open to stop him.

“What are you doing?” Dylan asked.

Ghidorah retracted his hand and turned to my brother.
“I cannot stop my judgment. It is not so much my power as what I am.”

Stacy fell heavily to her knees, obviously
disorientated, yet I still couldn’t go to her. She didn’t particularly look
hurt, though. After a few seconds, she pushed herself to her feet and walked
unsteadily back to her apartment. The only thing that kept me from shouting my
outrage was Dylan’s serenity.

Of course, I was also holding my breath.

“What was your judgment?” Dylan asked.

“She is a good woman, pure of heart, who suffered an
accident that caused her to become barren. For the goodness in heart, as a wife
and mother, I gave her back what was lost.”

“How are you able to flash and why are you here?”

“Araxi flashed me to you, and I had little choice but
to come here. It was your father who I always turned to before when it was time
for the Ajaskakara. Every fifty years, the planet Adgihe blocks the sunlight
from Skrev for twenty days. For twenty days, the world is bathed in cold and
darkness. The beast or ‘monster,’ as you referred to us before, takes over. My
judgment is too strong, so I must leave the world during the Ajaskakara. While I
am a Guardian like the rest, most of the others cannot handle my presence for
more than a few days. Kiro refuses to let me stay on Duran. Your father,
however, was always kind enough to house me. I was rather hoping you inherited
that kindness.”

Dylan shrugged. “Nope. Sorry, you can’t stay with
me.”

Ghidorah sighed. “I understand. I will try somewhere
else---”

“No, not like that,” Dylan interrupted. “You may not
exactly be a joy to spend time with, but you are a Guardian. It’s that I have a
three-bedroom apartment and I don’t think Mordon will let you bunk with him.”

“I see.”

“Now, math may not have been my subject, but I can
count very well up to three. Unless Stacy and John have separate bedrooms, they
have an empty room. I can’t volunteer their room to you, but I think if they
realized what you did for them, they might feel hospitable. If not, you can
stay in Mordon’s room and he can stay with his girlfriend.”

“What girlfriend?” I asked. I inhaled shallowly and
sneezed. Ghidorah and I backed away from each other simultaneously.

“The dragoness I found you with. You know, the woman
you were sleeping with? Did you go and fall in love? If you did, don’t worry; I
couldn’t possibly take you away from her. We’ll just stay here on Earth
forever.”

“I hate you, Dylan. I really, really hate you.”

“Shut up, you love me.”

“If your neighbors don’t let me stay with them,
perhaps I should try my luck again with Kiro,” Ghidorah said.

“Well, if you are going to stay, you need to take a
shower. Wash every drop of that plant matter off you so Mordon can breathe.”

Ghidorah gave a resigned nod of agreement. We went
back inside and to my shock, Xul was sitting at the kitchen table reading a
newspaper. A mug of coffee was waiting for Dylan and the coffee maker was in
one piece. When Rojan growled, I barely managed to keep the sound internal,
because it was irritating that the demon could make coffee and I couldn’t.

Dylan sat down next to the demon and put his feet up
on the chair across from it. This was my usual seat and Dylan did it just to
annoy me. In front of the demon, I wouldn’t swat my friend, but I could chew
him out silently until he moved his feet.

“So what brings you to my town?” Dylan asked.

The demon didn’t look up from his newspaper. “I
promised to protect your family whenever their lives were in danger. You risked
your sons to save your dragon pet and
poof
, here I am. You are the most
feared being to any demon and the only thing I fear more than you is living my
eternal life in the void. Therefore, I vowed myself as your servant. See how
this works yet?”

“Why did you choose saving me over the boys?”
I asked Dylan.

“I didn’t choose between saving you or them; I
chose between believing my heart or my head.”

“Your heart said to save me?”

“My head said to save my kids. My heart said that
in saving them, I would do anything, which would hinder my judgment. I trusted
my heart, and my heart commands my magic; therefore, I have faith in my magic.
Fortunately, Xul is as powerful as he needs to be in order to save you or them,
as long as it is within my abilities.”

In other words, he knew he could overthink something,
so he relied on his power over the demon. My brother had definitely changed
since I met him.

“Actually, I understand exactly why you saved my
sons, which was why I relied on you to do so,” Dylan said to the demon. “I also
know why you’re still in my apartment when you could have just dropped the boys
off. What I really want to know is why you’re searching the job ads.”

“Well, as much as I would love to get rich off of my
good looks and fabulous personality, that isn’t likely to happen in this town.
There isn’t enough money here for decent prostitutes or serious gambling.” He
sighed and tossed the newspaper on the table before sitting back and leveling a
look at Dylan. “Since saving the kids caused me to lose my job, I need a new
one.”

“You had a job?” Dylan asked, honestly shocked.

“You took away my powers!” the demon snapped. He got
up and paced the kitchen. “I was the most powerful Ancient of all and you
stripped my magic like hundred-year-old paint! It was only after you banished
me to the void and I met your father that I realized who I had challenged. When
the opportunity presented itself, I sought you out. I would rather serve you
than live in the void and serve Janus.”

“I don’t see the problem.”

“You gave me power over the other demons for as long
as the gates were opened, but then your stipulation reduced my power to that of
a meager mortal. Only when I save your boys or your dragon does my power become
substantial.”

“I think that is a proper penance for hunting a
two-year-old.”

“You left me stranded! I barely have the power of a
human. I can’t travel between worlds. I had no money, no food. Oh, my god,
hunger! You forced me into a flesh body that requires food! I never felt hunger
before, so I thought I was dying after three days without food. Water, I
figured out pretty quickly. I was cold all the time! I stole food and a
blanket, terrified you would find out and send me to the void for it. I wanted
to find you and demand shelter, but I thought you would laugh and leave me in an
even worse condition.”

I growled. “You know nothing about my brother.”

He sighed, the fight leaving him in a rush until he
just looked tired. He sat back in his seat. “I do, now. I learned that you try
to help everyone, not just your family, but by then I had made it to Earth. I
figured I could survive on Earth better than Duran. It was easier, but I had to
learn all about the culture and money. It was a hard few years, and most of the
time I thought I was better off never having made the deal with you. I thought
for sure you had tricked me. Eventually, I started making a decent living.”

“Doing what?”

“I founded a church.”

“Bullshit.”

The demon laughed until tears rolled down his eyes.
“That didn’t get you for a second. No, I was a model. Unfortunately, your fine
print made it almost impossible for me to refuse to help people in need. So I
missed a few gigs and my agents said she’d drop my ass like a hot rock if I
ditched one again.”

“And I made you save the boys.”

“And you made me save the boys,” Xul confirmed. “I’m
supposed to be in Los Angeles right now, and if I called my manager to tell her
I missed my shoot because I was teleported to a tiny town in the middle of
nowhere, she would probably come kick my ass before canning me.”

Ron entered the kitchen with his hair mussed and his
eyes shut, made his way to Dylan, and climbed into his father’s lap.

“Where’s Hell?” Dylan asked softly.

“Sleeping,” the child muttered against Dylan’s neck.
Dylan rubbed the boy’s back and Ron fell back to sleep in seconds.

“He’s a cute kid. Unlike the other one,” Xul said.

Instead of moving with Ron in his lap, Dylan looked
at me expectantly. I cuffed Xul in the back of the head in Dylan’s stead. Xul
was smart enough not to retaliate.

“Both of my boys are ridiculously cute. Now, I
understand you need a job, but why are you looking here?”

“For three reasons. One, I sort of fit in here, two;
the boys aren’t out of danger yet, and three; things are going down in the
void. Something is happening to everyone involved with the void and I truly
believe the safest place in the universe for a demon is right by your side.”

Divina

Unlike my brothers, it was never in my nature to
distance myself from my world. Throughout the history of Earth and my people, I
was very hands-on. When Erono gave me a semi-mortal body, I enjoyed my newfound
life a little too much, to the point where I usually left humans to their own
devices. But when Dylan wanted to move to Earth, it was my intention to
reassert myself as the god of Earth.

I guess it was from arrogance that the knowledge of
one lowly demon loose on my world made me angry. Instead of confronting the
demon directly, I sought Janus, guardian of the void. While there were demons
that were as old as us that we called the Ancients, the rest of the demons were
insignificant, annoying, and destructive pests. It was no secret Janus was only
half demon, but since he was one of the Ancients, the real mystery was what
else he was.

The void was mostly emptiness to my knowledge, with
several dislodged patches of universe protected by unknown means and for
unknown purposes. Everything inside the void was ruled by the demons, and the
demons were ruled by the Ancients. Janus was the one who controlled the
incoming and outgoing; the only one from the void side to keep the demons from
getting through to the universe. If a demon made it passed him, they were in
our hands.

There also happened to be several people of each
world who controlled entry into the void from this side. A void guardian would
never willingly open the void into the universe, though they could create a
neutral zone. This would protect a living person for a very small amount of
time in order to contact Janus. I had always been told by my brothers that the
void was toxic to us, but that we couldn’t be attacked while in the neutral
zone.

While the void itself was confusing at best to me, I
understood this neutral zone as a sort of thick membrane of universe that bled
between the universe and the abyss. The few times I had the misfortune of addressing
Janus, he came to me instantly upon my arrival. Therefore, it only took a short
time to realize something was wrong.

The gray, half-melted trees were a twisted
interpretation of something between life and death. It was disturbing because
they looked so much more sinister than normal; instead of dead, twisted
branches, they were covered in spikes and blood. There were random patches of
actual skin on some of them. Even the wind sounded like the echoing screams of
dead souls. Something was wrong and Janus was missing.

Demons were notorious trouble makers and without
Janus, they would eventually discover how to break out of the void.

I sought my oldest brother. Even though I absolutely
didn’t trust him, I knew that if anyone had answers, it was him. What I found
was even more shocking than anything I had seen since I found out I hadn’t
destroyed him. I was in a room that was empty except for a large, tall bed
laden with dark colors and satin fabrics and occupied by two mortal women, one
of which was dressed in a black satin thong and the other was entirely naked.
The naked woman was asleep while the other was drinking wine from a glass
goblet, completely unfazed by my arrival. 

“Your timing is deplorable, little sister,” my
brother said, appearing behind me.

It was with my sincerest relief that he was fully
clothed, even if it was in a black satin shirt and jeans. While I was very
guilty of dressing to impress my mate, it was disturbing to see Vretial dressed
as a mortal man. He was the oldest and wisest of us so, despite the fact that
he had created a semi-mortal body with which to live in, it was very
disquieting to witness him acting like a mortal.

“I think it could have been worse.”

“Yes, I suppose so. Why have you come to see me?” As
if to unsettle me even more, he went to the bed and sat. The conscious woman
immediately wrapped herself around him and caressed his neck. He ignored her.

“Janus is missing.”

“Good for you. I know you disliked him, so you should
have a hand in picking whoever is to replace him.”

“That’s not my point,” I snarled. This wasn’t like
Vretial at all, but I knew I was also different since I became… alive. Maybe
this was some weird side effect of Vretial having a flesh body. Maybe all
Iadnah became absolutely insane if they took a real body.

Vretial sighed and stood. “You said you didn’t trust
me anymore. You made it quite clear I was dead to you.”

“You attacked Dylan.”

“It wasn’t by choice. At first the balance was in
control, but then I tried to help him. I saved his life a thousand times over,
even gave him Mordon. He trusts me more than you. You hinder his magic and lie
to him at every turn.”

“I do what I think is right to help him.”

“Since you got your early memories back, you
regressed to being the one who killed our kind. When Dylan met you, you were
compassionate and open minded. Do you think he would love you if he had a
choice? I’m sure he tells you every day that he loves you, but have you ever asked
him why? Does he even know?”

“He’s my mate. You were the one who told us that each
of us had---”

“A soul mate. The universe is in balance and for that
reason every god has one person who balances us; one person who is perfect for
us to love. Does that even make sense to you?”

“You told me that. Are you telling me now that it
isn’t true?”

“We have no soul! How can we have a soul mate? I
think when you took my power, you lost your mind, and it hasn’t come back to
you. By that time, Dylan already belonged to you. He knows you aren’t the same,
and I bet he’s wondered what he even loves about you.”

“Stop it,” I demanded. Vretial was always kind to me
before. He never spoke to me like this. “What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s not me that is wrong. You’re not one of us,
Tiamat. You’re not Iadnah, you’re not my sister, and I highly suspect you will
be the death of Dylan. You’ve seen his death, yet you’ve never told him or done
anything to stop it.”

“I’m working on stopping it.”

“You will fail. Dylan will die with his misplaced
trust in you. He will die because of you.”

A hand gripped my shoulder and I turned in utter
shock. I was back in the neutral space of the void and Vretial was behind me…
wearing a black button-up shirt and black pants with a black trench coat. One
of the spiked branches of the half-melted trees was wrapped around my wrist, so
I jerked my arm away until the branch snapped, uncoiled, and dropped to the
ground. The vine left behind a red, raised rash around my wrist about three
inches wide that looked somewhere between bruised and burned.

Vretial put one arm around me in a sort of half-hug
and the void dissipated around me. We reappeared in the Land of the Iadnah
under the apple tree. “You are too young to be alone in the void,” he
cautioned.

It must have been the living part of my mortal body
that caused me to shake uncontrollably. I was a god; I had to be more dignified
than that. I never felt like it was a hindrance more than in that moment. “What
happened?”

“The void is a poison to life. We are not meant to
have mortal bodies, but the void can feed on them when we’re there. You were
seeing the horrors that are in your heart.”

“You said I will be the death of Dylan.”

“That wasn’t me but your own fears. I assure you,
Dylan will not die by your hand. It will be, at least indirectly, the fault of
Samhail and Ronez.”

“You can stop it then?”

“I cannot. If the balance still possessed me, or even
if I had my full power, I could. You know as well as I that these bodies
encumber our power.”

“Then I will give it up.”

He stared at me. “You cannot be with Dylan without a
body.”

“If it comes down to giving him up or losing him to
death, I will give up this form that hinders my power. These bodies are
amazing. I can feel emotions and sometimes I hate it so much. Sometimes I feel
powerless, when I was once infinitely powerful and all-knowing. But I figured
it out when our brothers wanted to take him from me; he makes it worth it. As
powerful as I was, we don’t feel emotions like joy. I never understood that a
little unhappiness could make the good things sweeter. The happiness I feel
with Dylan makes it worth everything.

“He makes me laugh at ridiculous jokes, but he can be
so wise when the time calls for it. He loves me no matter what I am or what I
do, and he will always take my side. He knows when I need space or when I want
to be treated like a mortal woman. With him, I can be whatever I want to be.
Without him, I wouldn’t be able to stand the pain.”

“You’re going to make me jealous now.”

“Maybe you will find your mate someday.” If what I
had seen really was just a manifestation of my fears, then that meant it was
me, not my brother, who doubted the concept of the gods having soul mates. That
didn’t mean I loved Dylan any less.

“No, I’m not like you. You were always different and
that isn’t a bad thing. It was something beyond my understanding that drove
you, and I believe that you are who you are because you were meant to be with
Dylan.”

“He’s just a mortal with Iadnah magic.”

“We both know that isn’t true.”

“How can he have influenced me before he was even
born? I’m much more powerful than him, so it should be the other way around.”

“See, I don’t believe that, either. He looks human,
he sounds human, he even smells human, but there is something in him not quite
right. I don’t think he understands it, either. He can use mortal and Iadnah
magic, yet he controls a demon. He took the demon’s power away and then gave it
back to him.”

We could kill a demon easily if they were in a mortal
body, but we could not strip their power like we could a mortal’s. “You’re
saying he can use demon magic as well?”

“I believe he might be something we have never
considered. He might be a being who can control, and even create, any form of
magic.”

“But his mother is human and his father was Ronez.”

“I’m sure that is correct, and I’m not suggesting
otherwise. We made people, but we don’t know everything there is to know about
them. You choose to forget that while we may be the most powerful species we
know of, there is nothing to say there isn’t a being more powerful out there.
Maybe there is something out there beyond our little surviving universe that
can destroy us with a mere thought.”

“You mean something that would be a god to us?
Absolutely not. We are Iadnah, all-powerful and all-seeing. If there was
anything out there that could even rival us, we would know.”

“Oh, little sister, Dylan didn’t marry you for your
brains, that’s for sure. Anyway, I guess you realized Janus is missing.”

“I did,” I said, ignoring his insult. Vretial
honestly didn’t mean any harm by it. “Do you know what happened to him?”

“No. Like I said, these bodies are a hindrance.
Perhaps he was overruled. I do know, however, that the demons are escaping. The
best I have been able to deduce without speaking to anyone directly is that the
demons had someone on the outside that helped them make it through.”

“Ron sent all the demons back into the void when he
closed the gates.”

“He did, but the demons were spread throughout time
as well as space. Some had plenty of time to ensure a passage back with their
blood.”

“Offspring.”

“Yes. They get a woman pregnant and they have an easy
blood bond with the universe.”

“I will find the keepers of the void. One of them
must know what happened to Janus.” I had one particular person in mind, so I
flashed to Dios, to the High King I had met twice before. The boy was bonded to
the void by blood, hence his presence destroyed nominal and Iadnah energy. He
was much older than he appeared, most likely due to the void essence in his
blood, and I had heard from Nano that he used it to his advantage.

Nila was asleep on the ground in a cold, dark cave
with a too thin shirt and pants that were worn through in many spots. The boy
wasn’t even wearing shoes. I knew Dios was dreary, but I didn’t think their
leader would be sleeping in the dirt. Beside him was a goblin dressed in armor.

They both woke with a start and the goblin pounced to
place himself between me and his king. When the guard pulled a sword on me, the
boy pulled him back. “No! She is a god!”

The
goblin grumbled, but let himself be pulled away. Nila bowed slightly to me,
although it looked more like he was just trying to buy time. His eyes darted
around as if to make sure I was the only one who appeared.

“Where
is Dylan? Is he okay?” he asked, panic on the edge of his tone.

“Dylan is fine. Why? Do you expect trouble?”

“Not as long as he stays away from Dios. You have to
protect him; there is a force gathering to bring him down. I believe my father
might be leading them.”

“Where is your father?”

“Not here right now. I mean, he died before I was
born… but he’s back. He’s back as a demon and I think he means to kill Dylan
through me. He believes Dylan will come to save me and… Tiamat, you have to
keep him away.”

When a person died, they couldn’t return as a demon.
Demons were a species created in the void with no soul and no life. Although a
soul could imitate a demon by forming a temporary body in the universe, this
was regulated by Janus because it was a construction of demon magic.

“If you are in need of saving, there is nothing in
this universe that can keep Dylan away.”

Nila slumped to the ground dramatically. “I will not
be his death.”

“Your father is leading an army of demons to kill
Dylan?”

He shook his head. “I think he has a small group
ready, but he wants Dylan to come here. He wants to meet Dylan alive… he was
very specific about that. He never even said he wants Dylan dead. There’s
something very sinister about him, though.”