CHAPTER SEVEN
Xypher instinctively stepped between Simone and the window where Kaiaphas floated, glaring his hatred at them. Long black hair twisted around a repulsive face covered with boiling skin.
Screaming out, Kaiaphas tried to blast through die window, but the salt deflected the blast back toward him. He dodged it, then cursed.
He curled his lip at Xypher. "You don't really think something so simplistic will save you from me, do you?"
Xypher gave a low, evil laugh. "Am I blind or did it just kick your ass? Must suck to have something like salt assault you. Guess that's what happens when you're part slug."
Kaiaphas raised his hands as if he intended to blast the window again, but caught himself. "You can't stay inside there forever."
"True, but I can stay here long enough to ruin your best day."
Kaiaphas hissed at him. His gaze slid past Xypher to Simone, down to where Xypher had his hand protectively on her waist. "Fascinating . . . you've now progressed from frightening to protecting humans. If you really want to keep her safe, come outside and I'll take your life and let her live."
"That would work if we weren't wearing the bracelets Satara sent over. I die, she dies. Separate us and I might consider your offer."
Kaiaphas tsked. "Don't you trust me?"
Trust...
That single word took him back to his childhood. Barely more than a toddler, Xypher had been so hungry he would have done anything for food. The winter had been harsh, wiping out all the crops. Xypher had found a bit of bread cooling on a building ledge, but he hadn't been tall enough to reach it. He'd tried for an hour to find something to either stand on or knock down the loaf But it continued to be out of his reach.
Frustrated, he'd cried and gone home, starving. Kaiaphas had come to him. "What's wrong, brat?"
He'd foolishly told him about the bread. "Tell me where it is and I'll share it with you."
"It's my bread!"
Kaiaphas had tsked at him. "Your bread will be eaten by a human. Isn't it better to have half a loaf than none at all? Trust me, brat. I'll share."
Xypher had agreed. After disclosing the location, he'd watched as Kaiaphas took the fresh bread and ate it while he cried. The worst part was, unlike him, the bastard didn't live on food. Kaiaphas needed blood. He'd eaten it just for meanness and nothing more. When Xypher had gone to his mother to complain, she'd backhanded him hard enough to bust his lip.
"If you're not demon enough to get it on your own, you don't deserve it." That had always been his mother. She'd mused him on venom and hatred.
Trust was for a fool.
And he would never trust Kaiaphas again. "Not a bit. Give me the key, and once she's free, we'll fight."
"I don't have it."
Xypher gave him credit for not lying about it. "As I thought. No intention of carrying out our bargain. You never change, brother."
Kaiaphas charged the window. His face illuminated the entire pane. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."
Xypher walked slowly toward the window and grabbed the cord. "Give Mom my worst." He dropped the blinds.
Simone didn't know what stunned her most. The fact that she had one seriously ugly demon floating outside her window or that said ugly demon was the brother of the hot piece of cheese in front of her. "He's not really your brother, is he?"
"Can't you see the resemblance?"
"Since your skin doesn't boil and your eyes aren't normally bloodied, no."
"Neither are his. It's all affectation designed to scare humans. He's such a fucking rookie."
"You could do better?"
Before she could blink, he spun up toward her ceiling and transformed from a man into a black seeping shadow that filled half her room. Fangs shot out of his mouth as his eyes turned a sickly fluorescent yellow. Fire rippled over every inch of him.
Simone stumbled back.
"Yeah," he said, his voice demonic and terrifying. "I can do a lot better."
In a flash he was human again. "My father is Phobetor. The Greek god of nightmares. Kaiaphas's father was some flesh-eating demon that Ares used to set loose on his enemies for shits and giggles. My brother
has no flair. No panache. Complete rookie poser who flunks a deep demon voice and some scary red eyes will make everyone wet their pants in fear."
His rant was oddly amusing. "Yeah, okay . . . that's some sibling rivalry you two have."
Xypher scoffed. "He doesn't rival me. Ever." A muscle worked in his jaw. He tapped his thumb against his thigh as if he were contemplating something and not finding a satisfactory answer. "Satara knows he's not powerful enough to kill me. Why would she summon him after me, then?"
That seemed obvious to her. "To kill me since I'm the weaker of die two of us."
"No, there has to be more than that, and why only send one demon? She could summon more. Why hasn't she? Something's not right." He returned to the window and snatched open the blind.
Kaiaphas was gone.
"I need my full powers," Xypher snarled. He dropped the blind again.
"If you need an oracle-"
"No. I need something a lot more powerful than Julian."
That was an extremely frightening thought for her, "Given what I've seen today, I don't think I like the way that sounds."
"You're going to like it even less come tomorrow." "Why?"
"Because tomorrow we're going to summon something so evil, it makes the earth itself weep."
Kaiaphas stood across the street, watching the window where he knew his brother was.
Waiting.
A gallu couldn't breach the salt restriction and a Daimon couldn't enter the apartment without an invitation. Damn the gods for their stupid rules. But for that, he'd already be inside, tearing them apart and appeasing Satara.
He cursed at the thought of having to face that bitch with failure. Of all his masters, she was the nastiest and that was truly saying something given the lowlifes he'd served in his lifetime.
Just once, couldn't the person summoning a demon be nice? Was that really too much to ask?
His thoughts turned back to his brother. "What are you planning, Xypher?"