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January 3, 2015

T horn froze the moment he returned home to his bleak, dark castle in the Nether Realm of absolute evil. As he entered his study to drink what he needed for nourishment, he felt a powerful presence in the room.

Why would he be here?

Other than to annoy him. “What are you doing?”

With long dark hair and mismatched eyes, Jaden stepped out of the shadows. “I felt that which should not have been done. Valac is dead?”

Thorn sighed wearily at the mention of the demon they’d executed. “He is.”

Absolute horror darkened Jaden’s eyes. “Only the Sephiroth has that power.”

“Apparently your grandson has a friend who can also do it.” Even though Jared was the last Sephiroth left alive, he wasn’t the only one to share that power.

Thorn moved to his crystal decanter and poured himself his favorite fermented libation. “As the Chthonians rose from the Source as a counterbalance to the gods who were abusing their powers to prey on humankind, it seems we have a new species born to balance the demon races.”

Jaden cursed under his breath. “Forneus?—”

Thorn hated whenever someone used that name. It was the one that allowed someone to control him. “What would you have me do? Tell me what power can destroy this one?”

“The Malachai.”

That was laughable.

“You want to pit the Malachai against Jared and make the Malachai all the more powerful? Is that really your plan?” He shook his head at the idea of Jaden allowing his grandson to square off against Nick. Not that it would matter given that Jared was Nick’s grandfather.

He couldn’t imagine the two of them ever in battle. Jared would sacrifice himself before he’d ever harm a hair on Nick’s head now that he knew he was Cherise’s father, and Nick’s granddad.

Cam had picked the perfect way to set up the Malachai. Jared had unknowingly fathered Cherise Gautier.

Nick was now part Malachai, part god and part Sephiroth. A unique mixture that would either save the world.

Or end it.

“Good one, Jaden. Let’s set off nukes while we’re at it. At least then, the planet would be habitable again … eventually.”

Jaden rubbed his hands over his eyes. “You’re insane. You should have killed your son at birth.”

Thorn wouldn’t argue that. It would have saved all of them a lot of trouble if Cadegan had been suffocated on arrival. But he could never do that to one of his sons, anymore than Jaden could. “As you should have killed your progeny?”

Jaden’s eyes flared with his hatred. “We don’t speak of that. Ever.”

Narrowing his eyes on the beast he hated most—the bastard who was solely responsible for Thorn’s regrettable birth—he swallowed his drink. “Ditto. What do you think would happen if Noir ever learned of my son’s existence?”

He would use both of Thorn’s children as tools to subjugate the gods and the world.

Well aware of that nightmare, Jaden glanced away. “What game are you playing?”

“The same game you are. Survival.”

“No,” Jaden growled, “I know who and what I am. What side of this conflict I clearly fall on. You dance with a darkness that will one day swallow you whole.”

“For your sake … for the sake of the human world you love so much, you better pray that never happens.”

Jaden winced as he was summoned home by Azura and Noir.

His gaze dark and filled with foreboding, Jaden paused before he left with one parting shot. “I had this very conversation with your father, once, Thorn. Long before you were born. Let us pray, that when history repeats itself, your conqueror is kinder to you.”

Thorn set his drink down as those words echoed in his ears. Centuries ago, the Chthonian, Savitar, had warned him of the same thing.

And Savitar had condemned the union that had brought Thorn into being.

They both walked a tenuous line between opposing forces that constantly sought their very souls. Like him, Savitar had chosen to abandon the mortal realm for solitude. It was much easier to avoid temptation when it wasn’t near.

We are all the architects of our own downfall. Acheron’s words haunted him now.

Yet, on the other side, everyone was also the architect of their own salvation and redemption.

Sadly, there was only one creature who could tell the final outcome of it all. And thankfully that one still remained dormant.

Sleeping.

For the sake of them all, no one needed to disturb that beast.

Sighing, Thorn moved to sit before his fire and stare into flames that spoke to him in the quiet solitude of his lonely home. He used his powers to pull his drink to him so that he could toast the noise. “Here’s to the future. May it never bring to me what I deserve.”

A few weeks later

Thorn froze the moment he sat inside the back of his Bentley and closed the car door. Something was wrong. Deadly wrong. He could feel it in the air around him. It sizzled as if the particles in the air were electrified by unspent magic and energy. “Josiah?”

His driver didn’t turn around. He was completely frozen in place, with blood trailing from his left ear.

Shit.

As Thorn reached for the door handle, it melted and the doors locked. He was blocked from teleporting. Furious, he knew of only one demon who would dare such with him.

“What do you want?” he demanded through clenched teeth.

A dark shadow appeared in the seat beside him. “You don’t call. You don’t e-mail. I’m beginning to feel like you don’t like me. And that really hurts me in my inner tender place.”

Thorn glared at Paimon who was currently possessed. “Didn’t you get the Father’s Day gift I sent you?”

Red eyes manifested to glare at him. “Yes, the hands of my best demon in a pink, bloody box, middle fingers extended. How very thoughtful of you.”

“Knew you would like it. Soon as I saw him on my ass, I knew it would make the perfect gift for you.”

His father, through Paimon’s body, blasted him against the door. “Where is he?”

The he being referred to was Cadegan. His eldest son was finally free of the hell realm Thorn had unknowingly banished him to and he was being sought by those who wanted to use him for the birthright his mother had given him.

In spite of the pain, Thorn gave him a droll stare. “He’s where you can’t reach him.”

“I know you have that little bastard shielded from me. It’s just a matter of time before I find him again and take what I want.”

Thorn scoffed at his nebulous progenitor. “He would die before he allowed you to have it.”

“I will kill him for it. See, we can all get what we want and be happy. Why prolong the inevitable?”

“And miss out on all these fun father-son chats we have through your demons? Why would I ever do that, old man?”

Paimon hissed as if Noir had pulled out of him and left the two of them alone to “chat” in his car. “Do I have to kill you?”

Thorn burst out laughing. “Try it.”

Paimon created a giant mouth with serrated teeth. Then he was stupid enough to try and swallow Thorn whole.

Oops, he’d been wrong.

Noir was still in control of Paimon.

“That was only scary when I was a young idiot, Dad. I’ve grown up. Deal with it.”

Noir, in Paimon’s body, screamed in Thorn’s face. “I weep over your birth!”

So did he.

Thorn patted his heart in deep sarcasm. “Such fatherly love and compassion. It brings tears to my eyes.” Sighing, he spread his hand out and examined his manicured nails as if bored with their exchange. “Why do you want him so badly, anyway? Not like you can use his powers where you are. Or his shield, for that matter.”

Thorn looked up as another way to control Cadegan occurred to him. “Unless you have a body?”

“Why would I tell you if I did?”

His father was so predictable.

Thorn smiled snidely. “Good. You don’t. That’ll save me the trouble of having to track Paimon down and banishing him again.”

Noir, in Paimon’s body, pinned him back against the seat. “You think you’re so clever and smart. But there’s something a lot worse than me after Cadegan, Leucious. We will find him.”

“No. You won’t. Now begone. You’re stinking up the place. And it’s a six-month waiting list to get another one of these.”

Paimon rushed him, then went through his body and vanished from his car.

Sighing in relief, he leaned forward to close Josiah’s eyes and whisper a prayer for the poor man. As he did so, Cadegan’s rosary fell from his pocket.

He’d brought it with him today to return it to his son but had refrained. He had so few things from his son that he hadn’t been able to part with it. It was literally all he had as a memento.

Thorn picked it up from the floorboard and pressed it to his lips. Cadegan was so much more than Thorn had ever hoped for in a son. For now, they were reunited.

Still as brothers.

Even now, he wasn’t sure how to tell Cadegan the truth about their relationship, any more than he’d ever been able to tell Simi how he felt about her. And maybe he never would. Some truths were just too hard to face and served no purpose other than to cause pain.